New Orleans-- In an important, and loud development, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reached another milestone toward improving metro New Orleans storm protection.
Workmen drove the final 144 foot long pile in the 1.8 mile long concrete wall over the MRGO, known formally as the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Storm Surge Barrier.
It is the final link in what you might call "The Great Wall of New Orleans East," a structure that when complete will rise 20 to 24 feet above the waterline.
"After today, the MRGO, in regards to navigation, will become the 'Mr. NOGO,'" joked Col. Robert Sinkler, head of the Corps Hurricane Protection Office.
The giant piles, measuring 66 inches in diameter, form the backbone of the structure, but they are only part of the barrier anatomoy.
Smaller piles fill in the gaps and the Corps is moving 83,000 cubic yards of concrete to cement the structure in place.
"The amount of concrete in this project... will fill a football field to a depth of 90 feet," said Vic Zilmer, project manager.
As impressive as it is in scale, the Corps is proudest of its speed.
15 years of design and construction work were pulled off in 3 years thanks to a unique design-and-build strategy employed on the project.
Zilmer boasts that, as a feat of engineering, there is "nothing in this scale, nothing ever in this period of time."
At $1.3 billion, the barrier chalks up another record, as the most expensive single-project ever constructed in Louisiana.
It is also a critical piece in the Corps pledge to provide 100-yr. storm protection by 20-11
For example, Karen Durham-Aguilera, head of the Corps' Task Force Hope, says the barrier would prevent a repeat of last year's near miss along the Industrial Canal, when Gustav's surge splashed over the floodwall.
"If you get a Gustav-like surge, you will not see that water coming through the IHNC."
Workmen will top the wall with a concrete cap big enough to drive on. However, the structure is designed to add more piles in the future to build to a higher level of protection, or as Col. Sinkler explains, "in case there's subsidence, it could be raised to maintain this existing level of protection.
The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, now closed here and with a rock structure farther down the waterway, is a thing of the past as a navigation channel. The Intracoastal waterway, however, will remain open. There, the Corps will construct two sets of gates that could be closed prior to any surge event.
Corps officials acknowledged that much work remains, but Wednesday was a day to relish for an agency that has taken its share of licks since Katrina.
Engineers and workers seemed to be a bit awestruck themselves at what they had achieved working, as Zilmer put it, at "warp speed."
After the pile driver stopped, there was applause, a quick picture-taking session, and the project manager looked out over the scene. "Behold, the wall," he exclaimed to the cheers and laughter of his colleagues.
