Graves announces start of construction on Louisiana hurricane protection project

Ground broke on July 26 for the highly anticipated West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Hurricane Protection Project in Louisiana, a $760 million project fully funded following legislative efforts by U.S. Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA).

“The West Shore Project will ultimately make St. John, St. Charles, and St. James parishes safer places to raise a family,” Rep. Graves said on Monday. “This is exactly how we invest in our infrastructure before a storm rather than after the fact — spending much more on disaster recovery.”

Rep. Graves in 2016 secured the first part of the legislative breakthrough for the 18-mile levee project to protect portions of St. John the Baptist, St. Charles and St. James parishes when language from his proposed amendments were successfully included in federal law to authorize construction of the project, according to information provided by his staff. 

In 2018, the congressman secured full funding for the West Shore project construction as part of almost $3 billion in federal funding announced for priority flood and hurricane protection projects in the southern portion of the state, according to the information.

“We’re cutting through the bureaucracy and red tape, and the people in the River Parishes are finally going to get the flood protection they deserve,” said Rep. Graves. “Dirt is turning and we will be protecting our families, homes, businesses, and communities. It will lower flood insurance rates and lure economic development and jobs to the region.”

When completed, the new system of levees, floodwalls and pump stations could protect some 120,000 people and more than 7,000 structures from a so-called 100-year storm, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture refers to as rainfall totals that have a 1 percent probability of occurring at a specific location in a year; in other words, there is a one in 100 or 1 percent chance that a storm will reach such intensity in any given year.