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

Flooding in Chalmette, LAfrom Hurricane Katrina(click to view larger) 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 pre-construction 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 […]