LAPLACE — A federal report outlining levee protection for greater St. John the Baptist Parish is expected to be ready for Congressional approval by April, parish officials said.

An action by Congress is the next step in protecting more than 7,000 structures from Montz to Garyville through levee construction — a process that began in late 2013.

On Friday the Army Corps of Engineer Civil Works Review Board unanimously approved release of the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain final integrated feasibility report and environmental impact statement for state and agency review.

The approval means the proposed $718 million project, designed to protect the River Region, is one step closer to a reality, as it needed the board’s final approval before it could be sent to Congress for funding.

“It is truly a momentous day for St. John Parish and we remain committed to seeing this levee built and our residents protected,” St. John Parish President Natalie Robottom said. “The vulnerabilities of no protection were exposed during Hurricane Isaac and (Friday’s) vote suggests that the Corps of Engineers is ready to put this plan into action.”  

The feasibility study and environmental impact statement approved Friday will remain open for state and agency review for 30 days.

Robottom and members of the Parish Council defended and supported the recommended plan before the Civil Works Review Board during a September trip to Washington D.C. In October, the project was delayed while district representatives addressed concerns in the draft report.

The report was approved during a conference call Friday with representatives from the local, state and federal level. The Army Corps of Engineers confirmed a tentatively selected plan to build storm protections measures for the River Parishes in November 2013. The selected plan, named Alternative C, is 18 miles in length and would protect Montz, LaPlace, Reserve and Garyville.

The levee would run between the Bonnet Carre Spillway in Montz and the Hope Canal in Garyville and would provide risk reduction for approximately 60,000 residents and nearly 17,000 structures in the study area.

St. James Parish would not be protected by the levee, but the plan does include other measures designed to protect the east bank of the parish.

St. John Parish residents have been teased for decades, wondering if the promise of flood protection in the form of a levee would ever become a reality. The sting of unkept promises was felt the harshest in 2012, when over 7,000 homes flooded in St. John Parish.

During Hurricane Isaac, Interstate 10, “the major corridor for access to and from the New Orleans metropolitan area which bisects the study area, was submerged for multiple days and slowed emergency response across the region,” the Corps’ website states. “This caused considerable rerouting of traffic for days after the storm.”