[StBernard] $278.8M to Odebrecht-Baker for St. Bernard Parish Levee Improvements

[Westley Annis]

$278.8M to Odebrecht-Baker for St. Bernard Parish Levee Improvements
28-Sep-2009 13:14 EDT

Odebrecht-Baker in Coral Gables, FL won a $278.8 million construction
contract for levee improvements to the Chalmette Loop from Verret to
Caernarvon in St. Bernard Parish, LA.

The Chalmette Loop contract is 1 of hundreds of contract being awarded by
the US Army Corps of Engineers under the Hurricane Protection System (HPS).
For a list of HPS contracts, including future contracts being awarded in the
coming fiscal years, click here [PDF].

Under this contract, Odebrecht-Baker will build a floodwall along the
Chalmette Loop.

The contract includes preconstruction services, which will run concurrently
with the design effort, allowing for collaboration between the design team
and Odebrecht-Baker. When complete, this project would reduce impacts from a
possible storm surge.

The contract includes two subsequent options which, when awarded, would
account for the majority of the $278.8 million in construction costs. Those
options include constructing 8.5 miles of new floodwall to an elevation
between 27 and, in some places, 32 feet that would tie into the Highway 46
and Bayou Road Floodgate on the west and Verret to Caernarvon structures on
the east. Additionally, new fronting protection would be constructed to
elevation 32 feet at St. Mary's Pump Station.

The contractor expects to complete the work by June 1/11. Bids were
solicited via FedBizOpps and ASFI with 5 bids received by the US Army Corps
of Engineers' Hurricane Protection Office (W912P8-09-C-0113).