West Shore – Lake Pontchartrain, LA Hurricane Protection Feasibility Study

March 9, 2009

Project:  West Shore – Lake Pontchartrain, LA Hurricane Protection Feasibility Study

Non-Federal Sponsor: Pontchartrain Levee District

Project Description:  The Feasibility Study is the result of the July 1971 and September 1974 Congressional authorizations to provide Hurricane Protection along Lake Pontchartrain for the remainder of St. Charles, St. John the Baptist and St. James Parishes.  Alternative alignments will be evaluated during this study, which will include drainage structures, pump stations, floodgates, structural walls, and earthen levees to provide for Standard Project Hurricane Protection.

Status: The work on the Feasibility Study Report is split evenly between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Pontchartrain Levee District (PLD).  The Feasibility Study has been advanced to a draft format stage.  There were two alignments prepared, one that followed the wet-dry interface with the wetlands (Plan A) and one that followed the Interstate-10 route (Plan B).  The estimated project cost for Plan A was $151 Million and the estimated project cost for Plan B was $237 Million in 2003 dollars.  The USACE informed the PLD that if Plan B was desired, the PLD cost share would be based upon the Plan A at an approximate cost of $53 Million plus the $86 Million increase for Plan B.

The approximate $139 Million cost, to PLD and the local parishes, was not economically feasible.  PLD prepared an evaluation of the Draft Feasibility Study Report and developed a new alignment alternative.  The new alignment alternative, referred to as the St. John Revised alignment, was developed to reduce the overall levee length, reduce the amount of direct impacts and indirect impacts to wetlands, and included alternative levee construction methods to provide cost savings.  Levee stability templates were provided by the USACE for the alignment review.  The St. John Revised alignment has an estimated project cost of $134.5 Million (2003 Dollars).  The estimated project cost in 2008 Dollars is $258,000,000.00 based upon unit costs from post Katrina bid tabulations.  The PLD has presented their preliminary engineering findings to the USACE and are coordinating to develop a viable project.

The USACE has reviewed the St. John Revised alignment and they are including it in the Feasibility Study.  An amended Project management Plan for this completion of the Feasibility Study and the Environmental Impact Statement was signed May 28, 2008.  The Project Kick-off Meeting was held on July 31, 2008, the Initial Plan Formulation Meeting was held on August 14, 2008, the Signing Ceremony was held on September 30, 2008 with no further contact from the USACE to this date  The scheduled completion of the Environmental Impact Statement and Feasibility Study is 2nd Quarter 2010.

Schedule: The Feasibility Study and Environmental Impact Statement phase will be completed in FY 2010 provided adequate funding is received from both the Federal and Non-Federal sponsors.  PLD has requested that the USACE expedite this project.  The cost share for the construction would be 65% Federal and 35% Non-Federal.

The PLD intends to accelerate the overall project by designing the first segments of the project concurrently with the Feasibility Study and the Environmental Impact Statement completion.  The design of segments 1, 2, and a portion of 3 will be performed to USACE standards, submitted to the USACE for review, and ready for bidding by the end of 2010 in conjunction with the Chief’s Report recommending the project to proceed into Preliminary Engineering Design.

Funding History:  The cost share requirements for the Feasibility Study/Environmental Impact Phase is 50% Federal funds and 50% Non-Federal funds.  Project funding available for FY 05 was approximately $200,000 ($100,000 Federal and $100,000 Non-Federal).  No funding was authorized for FY 06.  Project funding available for FY 07 was approximately $200,000 ($100,000 Federal and $100,000 Non-Federal).  Project funding for FY 08 was approximately $1,601,000 ($697,950 Federal and $903,050 Non-Federal).  As of early May 2008, $3,068,000.00 had been spent and an additional $3,914,000 obligated on this project for completion for a project total of $6,982,000.  PLD has provided $1,269,300 in 2008 for Non-Federal funding to the USACE to initiate the completion of the project.

Funding Requirements for FY 09:  Funding required for completion of the Feasibility Study Phase will be 50% Federal and 50% Non-Federal. 

Federal                               $1,789,500

Non-Federal Cash                1,269,300

Non-Federal In-Kind              855,200

Total                                  $3,914,000

The West Shore Project was included in the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority local match funding (specific limit not known) for current Hurricane Protection Projects for a statewide total of $160,000,000.  A Capital Outlay Request for FY2009-2010 has being prepared and was submitted by the November 1, 2008 deadline.  The request from Capital Outlay was $63,286,700 over a ten-year period with $3,222,500 in the first year.

Funding for the design and construction phase will be 65% Federal and 35% Non-Federal.  The estimated project cost in 2008 dollars for the segment from the Upper Guide Levee to the Hope Canal is $258,000,000.00.

Federal                           $167,700,000

Non-Federal                      90,300,000

Total                              $258,000,000

The estimated project cost in 2008 dollars for the segment from the Hope Canal to the Marvin Braud Pump Station is $160,000,000.00.

Federal                           $104,000,000

Non-Federal                      56,000,000

Total                              $160,000,000

The Non-Federal share will be provided by the State of Louisiana, the Pontchartrain Levee District, St. John the Baptist Parish, St. James Parish, and Ascension Parish.