Levee project nears key phase

Work on a major part of the Morgan City Levee Improvements Project should start by the year’s end with the goal of eventually certifying Morgan City’s levee system to avoid astronomical flood insurance rate increases.
The St. Mary Levee District Commission met Thursday at the Parish Courthouse in Franklin.
District leaders discussed progress on the $18 million Morgan City Levee Improvements Project to raise and improve levees in the area in order to certify the levee system for 100-year flood protection and insurance purposes. Most of the levee construction may be finished by the end of 2017, Levee District Executive Director Tim Matte said.
Some levee stretches will be raised as much as 4 feet, while other sections may be raised by just a few inches.
A 5-mile stretch of levees from Lake End Park to Justa Street in Morgan City should be the next portion of the levee system to see improvements. Officials expect to advertise construction bids Wednesday and open the bids received Nov. 18, said Consulting Engineer Kevin O’Gorman of T. Baker Smith. A contract could be awarded probably in December, Matte said.
Construction on this segment will cost about $8.5 million and includes raising levees by the Cajun Coast visitors center, behind Auburn Subdivision, parallel to the Cooks and Collins Canal and by Lake End Park.
Finishing the entire Morgan City project will allow the city to adopt its 2008 FEMA flood maps. The city has been appealing those maps since they were issued because the maps show the city’s levees don’t meet 100-year flood protection standards.
Morgan City’s levees are currently certified under the 1996 FEMA flood maps, but FEMA will eventually require the city to adopt the new maps.
The city will probably be able to adopt the new maps by 2020, Matte said. Before adopting the maps, the city would have to go through a FEMA process that gives partial flood protection credit based on features other than levees that provide flood protection, he said.
In May, 3 miles of levees in Siracusaville were the first part of the project to go to construction. St. Mary Parish government is in charge of that part of the levee improvements. Workers have completed the access road necessary to construct the first stretch of levee in that section of the project, O’Gorman said.
Weather permitting, workers could finish Siracusaville’s levees around February.
St. Mary Parish Consolidated Gravity Drain-age District is in charge of funding the rest of the Morgan City Levee Improvements Project, and the levee district has acted as a project manager.
However, the levee board approved a resolution Thursday for the drainage board to manage the project. The levee district will still serve a consulting role in the project, Matte said. Officials decided to make the change because the drainage district has had a bigger role in the day-to-day management of the project than originally expected.
Once the entire project is complete, the drainage district will then turn raised levees back over to the levee district for operation and maintenance of the levee system.
Another part of the project involves raising about a ¼ mile of La. 70 by Lake End Park to tie the highway into the levee system. O’Gorman anticipates advertising that construction contract before the end of the year.
A new pump station will also be constructed near Lake End Park as part of the project. Building the pump station will likely commence in the spring of 2017, Matte said.
Officials are still trying to determine what work needs to be done to certify levees that protect Lakeside Subdivision.
In other business, the commission
—Approved a task order in the amount of $2 million on the Bayou Chene Flood Protection Project contract for 60 percent plans necessary to get a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit.
—Approved a change to the Bayou Chene project contract at a cost of $276,994 to do an environmental assessment, life safety analysis modeling and cultural resource analysis, which are all required to get a Corps of Engineers permit for the project.
—Approved submitting a state capital outlay request to help fund the Bayou Chene project, levee improvements west of Charenton and construction of a floodgate on Bayou Teche. The submittal is contingent upon review by local legislators.
—Approved the levee district’s master plan.
—Approved a letter of no objection for a request by Conrad Shipyard to designate a foreign trade zone.
—Approved the purchase of an Inspection Crawler camera to inspect pipes.