Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (IHNC)
Surge Barrier Project
Shaw led the largest design-build civil works project ever awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Surge Barrier project - which has achieved 100-year storm protection. The massive structure is a key component in the Corps' Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System designed to protect the greater New Orleans area.
During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a surge entering the confluence of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway overtopped and collapsed a 4,000-foot-long section of flood wall along the Industrial Canal. This caused widespread flooding in New Orleans and surrounding areas.
Shaw provided project management, design and construction services for the two-mile surge barrier and three flood gates to block hurricane storm surges from entering the Industrial Canal. Construction includes 1,271 concrete cylinder piles 66 inches in diameter, 144 feet long and driven to 130 feet. Shaw used internal resources from its fabrication and assembly shop in Delcambre, La., as well other sources from the Gulf Coast region, completing placement of the piles making up the majority of the barrier on Oct. 21, 2009, only five months after the first pile was driven.
To learn more about the project, visit the Corps website.