Corps Updates Progress on the New Orleans-Area Hurricane Protection System

WASHINGTON (March 30, 2006) – With two months remaining prior to the official start of the 2006 hurricane season, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is well on its way to accomplishing the initial goal of repairing and strengthening those segments of the hurricane protection system that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

"The effort to effectively restore the hurricane protection system that was so badly damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year is one of the largest and most ambitious civil works projects ever undertaken in the United States," said Maj. Gen. Don Riley, USACE director of Civil Works.

"The Corps’ ability to meet the 1 June goal – which many thought to be impossible – is not only a reflection of the abilities, commitment and dedication of the outstanding men and women of the Corps, but also of the support by our many contractor partners, external review teams, and elected leaders," said Riley.

The restoration of the 169 miles of damaged levees currently stands at:

• Orleans East Bank 27 percent
• Inner-harbor Navigation Channel 64 percent
• New Orleans East 72 percent
• St. Bernard 74 percent
• Plaquemines 74 percent

The effort to inspect the entire the levee and floodwall system has been ongoing since Sept. 2005. The Corps continues to conduct both surface and subsurface inspections of the remaining 181 miles of the New Orleans-area levee system that was not visibly damaged by last year’s hurricanes.

Approximately 38 miles of the system are topped by I-walls similar to those that were breached along the three outfall canals during Hurricane Katrina and we are taking several approaches to quickly minimize any possible I-wall deficiencies:

• Thoroughly inspect those that were not damaged
• Replace damaged I-walls with T-walls (2.4miles)
• Isolate the I-walls along the interior drainage canals from any storm surge (8.6 miles)
• Replace I-wall with levee enlargement in Plaquemines Parish (6 miles)

Additionally, we have doubled the standard amount of quality control and quality assurance inspections to ensure the soil and other materials, as well as their placement, meet the highest standards.

All our inspections, particularly along the I-wall portions, are enhanced by the tremendously detailed information and analysis that has been provided to the Corps by the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force. The IPET, chartered by Lt. Gen. Carl Strock to take a thorough look at the performance of the hurricane protection system during Hurricane Katrina, is comprised of more than 150 engineers, scientists and other experts from government, academia and industry. The recently released IPET Report 2 detailed the failure mechanisms of the I-wall breach along the 17^th Street Canal.

Another recent IPET contribution was to accelerated completion of work already underway to establish reliable vertical reference datum for the region. The vertical reference datum, previously being done by the USACE New Orleans District and the National Geodetic Survey, is critical to the Corps’ ability to accurately benchmark and measure the height of vertical protective structures, like levees, in the New Orleans area.

The newly established vertical reference datum will enable the Corps to accurately restore damaged and other sections of the levees to their authorized design heights, and to track subsidence and compaction in the future.

The fabrication and installation of temporary closure gates at the mouths of the three outfall drainage canals continues to progress toward meeting the 1 June goal. These massive structures, once installed, will isolate the outfall canals and their levee walls from potential Lake Pontchartrain storm surge during the upcoming hurricane season. The gates will only be closed when the canals are potentially threatened by Lake Pontchartrain surge.

The first portions of the 17^th Street Canal closure gate were placed on barges this week to begin their movement to the installation site.

"There is a great deal of work yet to be completed and inspected to meet the 1 June goal," said Riley, "and much more to be done beyond that date to effectively meet long-term hurricane protection goals.

"We will continue to work to ensure the citizens of the New Orleans area are kept fully informed of the progress of our work, and to assure them that the Corps is committed to the highest quality of design and construction."