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NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, recently awarded a contract for constructing the first levee reach on the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction project. This contract will construct approximately one mile of the 17.5-mile-long levee system that will provide 100-year level risk reduction to the area extending from the Bonnet Carre’ spillway to Garyville.

The contract was awarded on December 21, 2022 to Lemoine-Frazier LLC of Lafayette, Louisiana for the construction of levee reach 110, which is approximately one mile long. The contract at award is $9,351,590. Work will be performed in St. John the Baptist Parish, and the contract will require approximately 87,000 cubic yards of commercial borrow material. Completion of the contract work is expected in 2024.

Several additional contracts are expected to be advertised in early 2023.

Bradley Drouant, senior project manager, said, “Award of the first levee construction contract is the culmination of years preparatory work by our team including CPRA, Pontchartrain Levee District and USACE…The work visible just west of the Bonnet Carrė spillway is just the first hint of what’s to come.  We ask for the public to be on the lookout for dump trucks entering and exiting the highway in the new year to help us safely construct this important risk reduction levee in St. John the Baptist.”

The West Shore Lake Pontchartrain project will achieve 100-year storm surge risk reduction by a variety of structural and non-structural features to include: levees, floodwalls, and pumps. While these features will reduce risk from storm surge associated with tropical events, they do not specifically reduce risk of flooding from significant rainfall. The project design team continues to work with the Non-Federal sponsor to acquire Rights of Entry (ROE) and coordinate with utilities and pipelines within the project footprint. Contracts completed include test sections, clay stockpiles, sand stockpiles, sand placement, and access road construction.

For more information on the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain project, visit:

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/WestShoreLakePontchartrain

Website: https://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/About/Projects/BBA-2018/West-Shore-Lake-Pontchartrain/