Yesterday Gov. Edwards joined the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) along with federal, state, and local officials for a groundbreaking ceremony on the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Hurricane Protection system.
The project will provide 100-year hurricane and storm surge protection to 60,000 Louisianans in St. Charles, St. James, and St. John the Baptist parishes.
The $760 million project will span 18.5 miles, including 17.5 miles of levees, one mile of T-wall, drainage structures, pump stations, and several non-structural protection measures to form an integrated protection system.
The structure will span from the Bonnet Carre Spillway to the Mississippi River Levee near Garyville and provide storm surge protection and improved resilience on the western shores of Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas.
The West Shore Lake Pontchartrain project began as a study of the area between the Mississippi River and Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas in the aftermath of Hurricane Betsy. Lack of funding caused the proposed project to remain dormant until 2012, when Hurricane Isaac flooded 7,000 homes in the area and interstate 10, which delayed emergency response for days. Following pressure from state and local leaders, Congress authorized the project in 2016 and allocated funds in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.
