[StBernard] Company awarded initial contract for Chalmette Loop levee system work

[Westley Annis]

Company awarded initial contract for Chalmette Loop levee system work
by The Times-Picayune 
Thursday July 16, 2009, 3:08 PM
The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $735,000 pre-construction services
contract to a company involved in the design of the portion of the Chalmette
Loop levee system between Bayou Bienvenue and Bayou Dupre, the corps said in
a news release.

The pre-construction services contract for Chalmette Levee Constructors
could grow substantially: two contract options put the company in line to be
awarded the majority of the estimated $357 million that will pay for
improving the levee system to block storm surge created by a 100-year
hurricane, including construction of approximately 6.5 miles of T-wall along
the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, the corps said. 

The Chalmette Loop is a 22-mile levee system that protects St. Bernard
Parish from surges coming from Lake Borgne and the Gulf of Mexico.The levees
now stand at 19 1/2 to 21 1/2 feet and will ultimately top out at 31 feet
when the concrete walls top the levee. The walls, shaped like an inverted T,
include both sheet piles that will be driven into the levee and even deeper
square pilings strategically located along the wall to provide extra
strength. 

The loop is designed to protect against surge created by a 100-year storm,
which has a 1 percent chance of occurring each year.