By: Sean Ellis, HoumaToday.com
August 31, 2016
Terrebonne Parish officials are nearly finished connecting the massive Morganza-to-the-Gulf levee system, protecting the parish with 35 miles of continuous levees from Pointe-aux-Chenes to Bayou Dularge.
The 9,000 foot-levee’s foundation, which crosses open water from Bayou Sale Road to Four Point Road near Cocodrie and Dulac, has already been laid, closing the gap in the system.
Known as Reach G-2B, the project is not complete, though. Contractors now must build the $13 million levee to its designed 13-feet height. Work on the levee began last summer and contractors expect to finish within the coming months as work as been slowed by long periods of rain in the area.
“The contract should’ve been finished, but we almost every day had rain for the last 30 to 40 days. I believe in a good 30 to 40 days they should wrap it up,” Terrebonne Parish President Gordy Dove said, “If there wouldn’t have been any rain, the contractor would’ve had it wrapped.”
Once the levee is complete it will be armored, meaning rocks and fabric will be added at the base of the levee to protect against day-to-day erosion.
Like most levee district projects, the work will require some mitigation. Federal law requires entities to create an acre of wetlands for every acre impacted by the project. Officials expect to name a contractor for the $10 million project later this summer.
The $21 million Reach E, which is the westernmost leg of the storm protection, started last year and is expected to be complete before the next hurricane season.
