[StBernard] MR-GO closing bids sought

[Westley Annis]

can they use all the LRA slabs ?
SJK


-----Original Message-----
MR-GO closing bids sought
Work on structure to be done by May Friday, August 29, 2008By Mark
Schleifstein
On the eve of the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the Army Corps of
Engineers on Thursday announced it's advertising for a construction firm to
build the structure that will close the controversial Mississippi River-Gulf
Outlet. 

The project is estimated to cost between $10 million and $25 million, with
construction to begin in October and be completed by the end of next May. 

The closing of the 45-year-old navigation channel at Bayou la Loutre in St.
Bernard Parish will be a 950-foot-long barrier made of more than 430,000
tons of rock. It will be 12 feet wide at the top and 450 feet wide at the
bottom, which would make it about 7 feet above sea level. 

 
The construction costs will be paid by the federal government, and
maintenance will be paid for by the state. 

Many St. Bernard residents blame the MR-GO for either directly funneling
storm surge along hurricane protection levees and into Chalmette during
Hurricanes Betsy and Katrina. Several scientists contend the channel rapidly
widened after it was built and allowed salt water from the Gulf of Mexico to
cause additional losses of wetlands and cypress forest areas. 

The corps contends the channel itself had little effect on the height of
surge during Katrina, based on computer model results that were part of an
interagency investigation of levee failures. 

Construction companies have until Aug. 28 to respond to the request for
proposals. More information about the project is available on the Web at
http://mrgo.usace.army.mil <http://mrgo.usace.army.mil/>  . 

. . . . . . . 

Mark Schleifstein can be reached at mschleifstein at timespicayune.com or
504.826.3327