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Hope Survives after Katrina, Rita Forever Change Gulf Coast


(louisiana.construction.com, November 2005 issue)

By Louisiana and Engineering News-Record Staffs

Work is under way to rebuild the shattered infrastructure along the Gulf Coast. Despite the beating taken by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, hope survives as area contractors begin the reconstruction.

On Aug. 29, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast with 140 mph winds, forever altering the Gulf Coast landscape. Less than a month later, Hurricane Rita devastated southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas.

After Katrina, what appeared to be only a glancing blow to New Orleans turned more severe as the Lake Pontchartrain levee was breached, inundating more than 80 percent of the city with water.

Catastrophic devastation was also inflicted upon the Mississippi Gulf Coast, with homes and businesses leveled by a 30-ft. storm surge. Hurricane Katrina picked up several Gulf Coast casinos and hurled them hundreds of yards inland, crippling the region's gambling industry for months and potentially even years. At least three of the floating barge casinos in hard-hit Biloxi were tossed from their moorings by the storm's wall of water, their hulls coming to rest up to 200 yds. from the shore.

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Similar devastation was felt in Lake Charles and points south, where homes were destroyed and power and water remain out in many locations.

Work has begun in earnest to repair damaged infrastructure and buildings throughout the region. Following is a wrapup of the some of the most recent developments:

Interstate 10 twin spans, by Candy McCampbell. Work started Sept. 12 and continues around the clock on the Interstate 10 "twin span" bridge over Lake Pontchartrain to restore travel between New Orleans and Slidell.

Boh Bros. Construction Co. of New Orleans was the low bidder on the $30.9 million job. The bridge has been closed since precast concrete panels were destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

The Louisiana project involves a phased approach for temporary repairs to the 5.4-mi. bridge, said Johnny B. Bradberry, secretary of the Department of Transportation and Development.

It is a main route for interstate commerce and commuting workers and is currently impassable, with some sections missing.

The temporary repairs are focusing on the span with the least damage. The span is getting undamaged panels from the other span for quick repairs, with crews working around the clock, seven days a week so it can be opened to two-way traffic, running one lane in each direction.

The first phase was finished in October.

The second phase, already begun, involves placing temporary bridge span portable panels on the more heavily damaged span. This is targeted for completion in January.

A third phase would be construction of a new bridge, which Bradberry is recommending be upgraded to six lanes and at a higher elevation than the current bridge.

With limited resources ranging from manpower, food and living accommodations to equipment and materials, contractors epitomize the best in teamwork and improvisation to rebuild infrastructure and communities so storm-ravaged Americans can resume their lives.

In the offices of Durr Heavy Construction in Harahan, phones rang, vendors called and a steady stream of Jefferson Parish residents poured through the front door seeking an opportunity to help restore their neighborhoods.

Safety and human resource director Don Bonewitz couldn't go five minutes without someone calling or walking in his door looking for work.

"We're adding people every day," said Fred Yoder, president and chief operating officer. "We are well over what our initial numbers were before the storm." In the days following the storm, Durr quickly transformed a home adjacent to their business into a barracks of sorts for men.

Like Durr, Boh Bros. Construction Co. set up temporary bunkhouses behind their Baton Rouge office on Airline Highway. What was a satellite to the main New Orleans office became the new, jam-packed central office, complete with additional phone lines for the New Orleans people. Boh was one of the first contractors to go in and assist in repairs to the levee breaches, even though the contractor lost millions of dollars in equipment and had no access to records.

Although New Orleans-based Barriere Construction lost some equipment, suffered damage on some projects, things are primarily business as usual.

"We have one of the largest asphalt plants in the state in Boutte and we're still up and running," said company spokesman David Mayer.

Located near the intersection of Interstate 310 and Louisiana Highway 3127, the Boutte office provided the perfect backup location for the New Orleans-based contractor's administration, engineering, IT, machinery and manpower.

The Louisiana Asphalt and Paving Association provided Barriere's administrative staff with temporary offices during the first week following the storm but by Sept. 8 Barriere had resumed operations from Boutte.

Mandeville-based B & K Construction Company suffered only minimal damage to its offices, said Blake Andrews, vice president. B&K has ongoing contracts with the Corps of Engineers and Jefferson Parish, so their biggest challenge has been keeping up with the demand for more work with fewer employees.

As a result, homes and other structures did not simply have trees thrown through them. They were washed clean from their foundations.

The massive influx of water destroyed much of the region's critical infrastructure. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers has stepped in to help the battered, resource-strapped municipalities fix broken wastewater treatment plants.

At the Southern Regional Wastewater Management District's treatment plant in Waveland, Corps members were on scene leading an effort to repair its damaged portions.

The storm surge dissipated to approximately 8 ft. upon reaching the plant, allowing it to survive structurally but ruining much of its equipment.

"There's nothing really running. Anything electronic is probably going to have to be replaced," said William Demers, a Corps maintenance mechanic, who leads the repair team. Even functional wiring had to be replaced because of gradual salt-induced decay, he said.

A parts shortage hindered the repair effort at the plant. No one could deliver needed parts, so a worker had to be sent to Mobile, Ala., to procure new electric motors, he said. A smattering of small specialty contractors helped to assess damage and make repairs. Plant generators work but water overtopped the tanks, requiring replacements.

Lt. Col. Mike Windham, construction and facility management officer for the Mississippi National Guard, is helping to coordinate efforts of the Corps, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Mississippi's own emergency agency.

Corps attention is also focused on Gulfport wastewater and water treatment systems along with those in nearby Hancock County and Harrison County, whose populations and Katrina impacts are greatest.

Reaching the more ravaged areas was a challenge due to massive road damage. Bridges on I-10, I-110, and U.S. 90 all sustained damage, ranging from span closure to complete obliteration. Most roads exposed to the Gulf are impassable after the storm surge sucked the earth from beneath them. The railroad running along the coast is also impassable. Tracks were ripped from the bridge across Bay St. Louis.

The Corps used backhoes to clear debris fields far enough from the road so that power trucks could begin to rebuild the local electricity grid. The agency also cleared the parking lot of an amusement park so that FEMA could eventually use it as a local base of operations in Waveland. A lot also houses trailers for temporary housing, said Corps spokesman Frank Worley.

The Corps took the lead on a variety of humanitarian efforts, he said, such as delivering ice, water and food to the people along the coast, but has since handed the task off to FEMA, the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations. The Corps has moved on to other humanitarian efforts with "Operation Blue Roof," in which local contractors are installing for free, high quality temporary roofs for permanent area residents.

Louisiana Contractor's special hurricane publication. Louisiana Contractor will publish a special hurricane recovery publication, to be packaged with its December issue. Within the publication, the magazine will examine in detail the hurricane's impact on the south central region's construction industry, as well as the intensive efforts under way to rebuild the state's damaged infrastructure, industrial, commercial and residential markets.

This special publication will also provide important project bidding and plan room information from McGraw-Hill Construction Dodge.

In the meantime, updated information about the reconstruction can be found invite at the Louisiana Contractor Web site at www.louisianacontractor.com. Daily news updates from Louisiana Contractor and Engineering News-Record, vital links and construction.com's Hurricane Recovery Information Center are directly accessible from our home page.

Also, contractors, suppliers and other construction-related companies are invited to post important bulletins within our Hurricane Connection site.