By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – When the St. Tammany Feasibility Study was released by the U.S. Corps of Engineers this summer, it didn’t take long to hear the complaints when residents noted a proposed 18.5-mile levee from eastern St. Tammany to past Lacombe had left out the Eden Isles-Lakeshore Estates area, as well as large sections of the Military Road area.
While New Orleans District Project Manager Amy Dixon explained that not every heavily populated area meets Corps guidelines for cost benefit, it still didn’t sit well with many locals, who have now formed a new organization to come up with their own suggestions and recommendations.
The Military Road Committee will have its first meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 14 at either the Municipal Auditorium or the St. Tammany Levee Board building on Military Road. Time and location are not definite yet.
But what is definite is the intent by Dr. Stan Owen, a current St. Tammany Levee Board member, to find more options for the Corps and other government entities to consider what would provide flood risk reduction for more people.
Owen is heading up the Military Road Committee and plans five sub-committees to begin addressing the situation, but he acknowledges the huge challenge in finding solutions and especially funding.
“These are very complicated scientifically, financially and politically. None will be easy,” he said. “And all are multi-million or multi-billion-dollar projects.”
He said his effort with the Military Road Committee and others who are with him on the work is to “start from scratch from an education perspective, and to see data that was previously presented at Levee Board meetings.”
Owen did agree with the New Orleans District Corps Project Manager Amy Dixon, who told The Slidell Independent that any comprehensive flood risk reduction plan getting all the way to final construction will take many years.
“I see this committee as a decades-long body. If I see any of them completed before I die (I am 72), I will be satisfied,” he added.
Among the areas of consideration for five sub-committees will be:
–Fritchie Marsh Restoration: Already underway, fastest option to reduce storm surge and restore a valuable wildlife refuge.
–Barrier at the Rigolets: At either Hwy. 190 or the CSX Railroad. Already studied and found feasible in 2017. Helps the entire Lake Basin, will impact no one negatively, but politically complicated due to many jurisdictions.
–Changing individual home mitigation from only slab elevation to multiple other options. This would require action by Congress.
–Using Hwy. 190 as a surge barrier, similar to what Hwy. 11 protecting Eden Isles is doing, which is under more study. The Hwy. 190 project will occur, replacing all of the five bridges across the Pearl River. This is a good opportunity to also design something to retard surge while fixing the highway. This will require cooperation with DOTD.
–Alternate levee design for the Military Road area other than the proposed Corps of Engineers Feasibility Study design. We have four other options to consider.