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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: John Hall, 504-862-2201
June 4, 2001
Construction begins in New Orleans to replace Industrial
Canal Lock
Two contracts awarded: demolition of Galvez Street Wharf and environmental
clean-up, clearing in East Bank Industrial Area
NEW ORLEANS - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun construction
in earnest of the $603-million replacement of the navigation lock on
the Industrial Canal in New Orleans.
Two contracts have been awarded for actual construction (pile testing
was completed a year ago), said Col. Thomas Julich, district engineer
of the New Orleans District:
- $22.4 million for major environmental clean-up and clearance of abandoned
industrial sites in the East Bank Industrial Area, to Washington Group
International Inc., based in Boise, Idaho.
- $2.6 million to demolish the Galvez Street Wharf on the canal's west
bank, to Virginia Wrecking Co., based in Stapleton, Ala. Demolition
will begin in June.
"This work is the most tangible milestone so far in our efforts to replace
the antiquated, under-sized lock, a project with significant benefits
to the local and national economies," Col. Julich said.
The new lock will be 1,200 feet long and 110 feet wide. Today's lock
was opened to vessels in 1921 and measures 640- by 75-feet.
The two construction sites flank the site where the new lock will be
built. The sites are between the Lower 9th Ward and St. Claude
communities, in the ¾-mile of canal between North Claiborne and Florida
avenues. All work will be done within the floodwalls.
Completion is expected in late 2002 in the East Bank Industrial Area. This
project began with preparatory work in December 2000. Completion of the
Galvez wharf project is expected by mid-2002.
The lock project will create work for 950 people for the duration of
construction, says a study by Dr. Tim Ryan, a University of New Orleans
economist. All construction contracts will include a local-labor preference
clause establishing the goal of hiring lock-neighborhood people for at
least 10 percent of the work force.
The way was cleared for the new construction work by a right-of-entry
agreement signed by the Corps and the Port of New Orleans.
The agreement allows the lock project to proceed while details are worked
out for the Corps to purchase the Galvez Street Wharf and 184 acres from
the port.
The right-of-entry agreement was concluded after the final allocation
of the lock project's cost among the Corps' general appropriations, $305
million; the Inland Waterway Trust Fund, financed by a tax on barge-industry
fuel, $243 million; and the Port of New Orleans, $29 million. Utility
owners will pay another $26 million for relocations.
Cost sharing for the lock project was set forth in the Water Resources
Development Act of 1986. Most of the cost will be for inland waterway
navigation (barges and towboats), known as the shallow-draft portion. This
cost will be shared 50/50 between Corps general appropriations and the
Inland Waterway Trust Fund. Additional cost for deep-draft navigation
will be cost-shared 65/35 between Corps general appropriations and the
Port of New Orleans. And some of the utility relocations will be the
responsibility of the utility owners.
For the current fiscal year, Congress has appropriated $16.3 million
for the project.
Next on the construction-contract award schedule will be the levee and
floodwall on the canal's west bank between St. Claude Avenue and the
Mississippi River. This project will include a pedestrian promenade
with benches and access from the Bywater community and the Naval Support
Activity.
Another contract will be a levee test section to be built on vacant
land adjacent to the existing lock, just north of St. Claude Avenue,
near the dead-end of North Villere Street.
The test section will involve innovative soil-mixing procedures to strengthen
the underlying soil and the construction of a short reach of earthen
levee. The test will determine whether the soil-strengthening procedures
can be used to eliminate or reduce the need for floodwalls along the
canal, using more neighbor-friendly levees instead.
In addition, the Corps has begun a $37 million community-impact mitigation
program with a $300,000 job-training contract awarded to Xavier University
of Louisiana in August 2000. The first class of 15 students from neighborhoods
adjoining the lock graduated on April 28. Additional mitigation projects
will be undertaken as construction progresses.
Lock information: http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil.
Click on 'search' and search for 'IHNC.'
Map of Industrial Canal area and the two construction projects. Click
on map for bigger image.
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