LAPLACE — Gov. John Bel Edwards announced plans this week to designate millions of dollars to purchase the property needed to construct hurricane and flood safety levees for St. John Parish and beyond.

The announcement, made Wednesday, is part of Edwards’ commitment of more than $350 million to Louisiana’s Coastal Program, which includes help for the long sought West Shore Hurricane Protection Project.

U.S. Rep Garret Graves (R-Baton Rouge) championed the announcement, saying it successfully follows 2018 news that the River Parishes secured $760 million to complete the project in five years or less.

Graves said the commitment by the state, Pontchartrain Levee District, St. John the Baptist Parish and St. James Parish to purchase the property needed to construct the levee means the project is “truly underway.”

“People in the River Parishes are finally going to get the flood protection they deserve,” Graves said. “The train, as the saying goes, is leaving the station.”

Edwards committed $30 million in surplus to be used to meet the state’s lands-related obligation, allowing the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain project to move forward.

“I made a commitment, that under my watch, coastal dollars would be used for coastal projects,” Edwards said. “Given the opportunity to return funding that never should have been taken is one wrong I am happy to right.”

According to Edwards, the Coastal Trust Fund is one of the few allowable recipients of surplus dollars.

Chip Kline, the governor’s executive assistant for coastal activities, said the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain project study was first authorized in 1971.

“The hard working people of this region have been waiting to see progress ever since,” Kline said. “When the federal government recently made the full cost to construct the project available to the Corps, we were determined to meet the State’s obligations on the lands side as quickly as possible in order to keep this project on schedule, so we can help better protect the people of this region.”

The project

Championed last year as fully funded by a host of Democrat and Republican elected officials, the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Levee involves two years of planning and three years of construction to provide 100-year storm surge protection to more than 100,000 River Region residents.

According to Chris Gilmore, senior project manager for the Corps of Engineers, public meetings would be held in St. John Parish as the levee nears construction.

While the levee is designed to protect against rising lake levels, it is not designed to drain rainfall on an average day.

“We just recently requested right of entry (from landowners) to go out and start to take surveys, borings and other field investigations,” Gilmore said in December.

“We are just starting to get that right of entry back, and we should be back out in the field, doing all of our field investigations after the first of the year. Once we have more useful information, the Corps of Engineers will set up and advertise public meetings in St. James and St. John.”

According to Gilmore, field investigations yield information necessary to identify the best track for the final levee design, expected to cover 18 miles across St. John, St. Charles and St. James parishes.

Approximately 20 landowners have been contacted for right of entry, and follow-up land improvements and design work will total an estimated 35 percent of the total budget.

Detail design mapping will begin between February and March, Gilmore said.

The first construction contract will be awarded around early 2020, and Gilmore said it’s too early to say how many contractors will be utilized.

Construction will be a massive undertaking requiring approximately 9 million cubic yards of material — enough to fill two Superdomes.

Politics

Much consternation was generated two weeks ago when national media outlets began reporting the project would be dragged into national controversies over the federal government shutdown and southern border wall construction.

Multiple media outlets reported President Donald Trump was considering using the money earmarked for the St. John levee to support border wall construction.

On Jan. 11, Louisiana’s U.S. Senators, Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy, as well as U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, released statements to L’OBSERVATEUR saying funding for the levee was safe and would not be re-routed.