The Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, known as SELA, will begin 24-hour construction next week in New Orleans’ Desire neighborhood as part of its ongoing efforts to reduce flood risks in Jefferson, St. Tammany, and Orleans parishes.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced at an open house meeting Thursday that crews will start working through the night at one of the construction sites in the ongoing project. Work will happen 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the railroad crossing near the intersection of Florida and Almonaster avenues.
The SELA project, which began after Hurricane Katrina, has received more than $2 billion in federal funding.
“The idea behind SELA is, let’s give that water a place to go,” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesperson Ricky Boyett said. “And then sewerage and water board and the pumps can catch up; it can pump out of the city.”
The Army Corps of Engineers, which partners with the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board and other local and state groups, leads the project. A project manager said construction along Florida Avenue has gone on for about a decade.
“So, we will have to take these permanent railroad tracks; we’ll have to temporarily move them over here,” project manager Joshua Abadie said while pointing out a map of the work area along Florida Avenue.
Starting next week, at night crews will hand-dig tunnels underneath the railroad tracks to install utility lines. Work in the area will happen every day and night with corps personnel aiming to minimize disturbances.
“A lot of concern is going to be trucks,” Boyett said. ‘Trucks are very loud. So we’re going to hold that to the daytime. At night it’s going to be primarily generators and hand-digging tunnels.”
Boyett said neighbors closest to the generators will hear noise similar to the volume of a living room TV while the work is going on.
Despite efforts to reduce disruptions, some residents expressed frustration with the ongoing construction.
“There’s dust that’s coming from the construction site that if you wash your car today, dust is everywhere tomorrow. And it’s just, it’s just, it’s out of control and we need help,” said Paul Peters, a neighbor who attended the meeting.
Peters said he reached out to the city of New Orleans weeks ago for assistance with the dust and a dead-end barricade placed near his home, which he said led to a police chase ending in his driveway. He has not received a response.
“It’s not good for your health, and it’s not good for just having to clean up behind them every day, every day, every week,” Peters said.
The Army Corps of Engineers said if the weather holds up, the 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week work schedule will end next summer. Construction in the Desire neighborhood is slated to continue until 2029.
For questions about the project, call the construction impact hotline at (877) 427-0345.
READ MORE:Federal flood control project to begin 24-hour construction in Desire neighborhood
