USACE breaks ground on Morganza to the Gulf Reach A Levee

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, held a Groundbreaking Ceremony yesterday to celebrate the beginning of Federal levee construction for the Morganza to the Gulf of Mexico Storm Risk Reduction System, Reach A. 

The Morganza to the Gulf Project is a hurricane and storm damage risk reduction project and part of the Mississippi River and Tributaries system.

The project is a 98-mile alignment, consisting of earthen levees, floodgates, environmental water control structures, road/railroad gates and fronting protection for existing pump stations.

According to USACE, major project features include two floodgates in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) and a lock complex on the Houma Navigation Canal (HNC) consisting of a lock and an adjacent floodgate. 

The non-Federal sponsors, Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District and the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), along with the North and South Lafourche Levee Districts, have constructed over 80 miles of levees in the vicinity of the authorized Morganza to the Gulf levee system.