The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is completing the final third of $145 million in construction to armor earthen levees surrounding the New Orleans area to protect against erosion from the overtopping of storm surge. The project has been in the works since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
To get the project to where it is today, the Corps has managed the complexities of 26 construction contracts while encountering delays from rising river levels and the need to raise more than half of the project’s levees to protective heights before armoring work could begin. The Corps also faced the challenges of COVID-19 and the limited availability of materials.