Construction is beginning on the largest design-build civil works project in the history of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a $695-million barrier designed to protect New Orleans from storm surges similar to that generated by Hurricane Katrina, which inundated the low-lying city in 2005.
The Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Lake Borgne Surge Barrier Project is a massive job designed to block hurricane storm surge, by 2011, from entering the funnel-like confluence of the IHNC, Mississippi River Gulf Outlet and Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, deemed the Achilles’ heel of the Greater New Orleans Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System.