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New Orleans to Venice Hurricane Protection |
Official Project Name
New Orleans to Venice, LA
Hurricane Protection
Location
The project straddles the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish. On the east bank, the project extends 16 miles on the back levee from Phoenix (located 28 miles southeast of New Orleans) down to Bohemia, Louisiana. On the west bank it extends 34 miles from St. Jude (located 39 miles southeast of New Orleans) to Venice, Louisiana, on the back levee and on the mainline levee. (Mainline levees typically run parallel to the channel, and back levees, or “setback” levees, usually serve as a backup to an existing levee that has become endangered due to such actions as river migration or erosion.)
Purpose
Upon completion, this project will achieve storm risk reduction for Plaquemines Parish at the maximum level authorized by Congress.
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Status
The New Orleans to Venice (NOV) project is upgrading the existing Federal levees on the east bank of
Plaquemines from Phoenix to Bohemia and on the west bank from St. Jude to Venice. For this project
the Corps will apply the new and more stringent design criteria that is being used for the Greater New
Orleans Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System (HSDRRS).
Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans to Venice (NOV) project was approximately 85 percent
finished with an estimated completion date of September 2018. Funding constraints slowed work and
extended the project completion date. The New Orleans to Venice project was funded at $769 million in
the 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th Supplemental Emergency Spending Bills passed by Congress in the aftermath
of the 2005 hurricane season.
Currently, the Corps is preparing a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the New
Orleans to Venice Hurricane Protection Project. This document will outline the proposed project
alignment and the human and environmental impacts. This is expected to be released for public
comment in the Summer of 2010, with an anticipated construction completion of late 2013.
Benefit to the Community & Project Features
Benefit to the Community
Initial levee construction raised elevation enough to make some Plaquemines Parish property owners eligible for coverage by the National Flood Insurance Program.
To compensate for project-associated wetland losses, the Corps created a marsh in the Pass à Loutre State Waterfowl Management Area and constructed five crevasses in the Mississippi River Delta to promote further marsh creation.
In 1987, the Corps redesigned the City Price to Tropical Bend segment of the levee to incorporate the use of geotextile fabric, which improves soil strength in levee construction. The redesign reduced right-of-way and construction costs resulting in savings of $35 million to $40 million.
Features
Hurricane protection in Plaquemines Parish consists of both federal and non-federal levees. Key features of the federal levee system are described below.
West bank:
• Thirty-four miles of enlarged west bank Mississippi River levees from City Price to Venice
• Three miles of enlarged back levees from St. Jude to City Price
• Thirteen miles of enlarged back levees from City Price to Tropical Bend and two 54-inch flap-gated culverts
• Twelve miles of enlarged back levees from Tropical Bend to Fort Jackson and a floodgate at Empire
• Nine miles of enlarged back levees from Fort Jackson to Venice
East bank:
• Sixteen miles of enlarged back levees from Phoenix to Bohemia and 10 flap-gated culverts Hurricane protection in Plaquemines Parish consists of both federal and non-federal levees.
Authority
This project was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1962 (PL 87-874) as the Mississippi River Delta at and below New Orleans, Louisiana. The project subsequently became known as the New Orleans to Venice Hurricane Protection Project.
Scope
No Information at this time.
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