Focus: Resilience

U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina unleashed an 18-foot storm surge with 7-foot waves, overpowering the Mississippi River–Gulf Outlet and Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, causing the collapse of a 4,000-foot-long section of the floodwall along Louisiana’s Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (IHNC).

Following the widespread devastation in the region, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers set out to design and construct a structure that would protect against future flood risks based on the latest data and trends, and in doing so, implemented a project capturing the essence of resilience so important to the ASCE Grand Challenge.

The ultimate solution was a nearly two-mile-long, 26-foot-high Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System — the largest surge barrier of its kind in the world — to protect some of Southeast Louisiana’s most vulnerable areas from future storm surges.

The engineers met the challenge of providing a 100-year level of risk reduction within an aggressive four-year project schedule, motivated by a strong commitment to the citizens of New Orleans. We now have scientific tools for a forward-looking approach that rigorously assess anticipated sea-level rise, increased storm intensity, and geomorphic changes and these tools were applied extensively in planning the designs for the new structure. The condensed schedule drove expedited analysis and permitting, as well as a design solution that was adjustable to evolving design criteria, minimized environmental impacts, and was specifically tailored to support fast-track construction.

Learn more about the project here.

Source: ASCE Game Changers