Tetra Tech to Rebuild New Orleans Floodwall and Levees

Lake Ponchartrainand New Orleans (shaded area)(click to view larger) Tetra Tech EC in Norcross, GA won a $33.3 million, 18-month firm-fixed-price contract to build a hurricane risk reduction floodwall and five floodgates in the Lake Ponchartrain area of New Orleans, LA. Under the contract, Tetra-Tech EC will demolish and rebuild a floodwall and gates, drive piling, build earthwork to upgrade levees that reach from the 17th Street Canal to Topaz Street along the lakefront, and upgrade roadwork and utility installations. Bids were solicited on the web with 4 bids received by the US Army Corps of Engineers’ Hurricane Protection Office in New Orleans (W912P8-09-C-0077). Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans in 2005, had a major impact on Lake Ponchartrain… Lake Pontchartrain is a 630-square-mile shallow, brackish lagoon, with the city of New Orleans located along its southern shore. According to a US Environment Protection Agency report [PDF], Lake Ponchartrain suffered dual assaults from Hurricane Katrina, a category 3 storm that hit New Orleans on Aug 29/05, with the eyewall passing along the eastern edge of the lake: “Not only was Lake Pontchartrain’s delicate ecosystem subjected to nature’s fury–Katrina packed 135-mi/hour (217-km/hour) winds and a 20-30-ft (6-9-m) storm surge–the lake also […]