The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are building new canals as part of the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project (SELA). The entire project, estimated to take two years to complete, will run from Fontainebleau Drive to South Claiborne Avenue, with traffic patterns being periodically altered as the work progresses in two to three-block sections on Napoleon towards South Claiborne Ave. Each canal will be 19 feet wide by 13 feet high. They will parallel an existing 20-by-12-foot canal which will remain fully operational during construction. The SELA program is a joint effort among the Corps and Orleans, Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes to improve drainage through major construction projects, using 75 per cent Corps of Engineers funds and 25 per cent local matching funds. The local funds for the Napoleon project include $3.33 million from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development’s Statewide Flood Control Program.
As part of the Napoleon project, a large number of parallel sewer lines along Napoleon will be repaired and sewer house connections will be replaced. A grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will pay for 55 per cent of the sewer line work. The Napoleon work is part of an overall improvement project for all of Uptown New Orleans and Broadmoor. Two other SELA projects in the area are: the $18 million expansion of Pumping Station No. 1 at South Broad and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, which is now underway, and construction of a new $21 million manifold canal beneath the neutral ground of South Claiborne Avenue from Nashville to Louisiana Avenue set to begin later this year.
Congratulations New Orleans! Great job on being honored as the award recipient for an outstanding storm water management program!!
