FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: John Addison
Media advisory: Industrial Canal Lock replacement facts

NEW ORLEANS --

Recent television reports make clear the persistence of misinformation about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers replacement of the Industrial Canal Lock (also known as the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal or IHNC lock). Here are the facts:

Widening - We will NOT widen the canal, which is 690 feet between centerlines of the levees. The lock will be widened 47 percent to 110 feet. At 1,200 feet, the new lock will be about twice as long as the old one.

Construction time - 10-12 years. The first contract, pile-testing, began in December and is expected to conclude by mid-year. The next construction work is expected to begin this fall.

Bridges - Bridges over St. Claude and North Claiborne avenues will remain open over the entire construction period, with minor exceptions. The longest will be a two-week closure of North Claiborne about four years away. A temporary $17 million bridge will avoid closure on St. Claude.

'Shove down throat' - Not true. Claims that the Corps will "shove the lock down the neighborhood's throat" ignore years of listening to residents and more than $50 million of responses. Example, $17 million temporary bridge. Example 2, changing the new lock's location to avoid dislocating homes, costing more than $10 million. Example 3, $35 million Community-Based Mitigation Plan, now getting started.

Traffic congestion - An inaccuracy repeated recently is that the Corps has done nothing to prevent traffic congestion. Not true. Examples: The planned $17 million St. Claude temporary bridge; off-site construction of the North Claiborne bridge and the lock itself; float-in of bridge and lock components. Most work will be done from the water.

On the Web: Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Replacement Lock: www.mvn.usace.army.mil/prj/ihnc/index.htm (includes detailed Construction Bulletin). Community-Based Mitigation Plan: www.gcr1.com/ihnc