Some of the pilings for the repaired bridge are as tall as 17 stories 
Larger, stronger pumps are among improvements to the levee system 
The whiter section of levee wall shows clearly where the fatal breach was repaired. |
Those looking for signs of recovery in New Orleans may have to leave land to see one of the most dramatic examples.
The Twin Span Bridge is a 5-mile stretch of Interstate 10 over Lake Pontchartrain. It connects Orleans Parish with Slidell. Or at least it did, until the tidal surge from Hurricane Katrina lifted parts of the roadway from their support pillars. Temporary repairs have kept the bridge open, but most of it will be replaced.
So, small teams of workers spend 10 hours a day, sometimes 7 days a week, out on the hot steel decks of construction barges anchored in the lake. A fraction of an inch at a time, they're hammering new pilings into the lake bottom.
The pilings, some between 12 and 17 stories tall, are part of the first stage of the most expensive construction project in Louisiana history. It's expected to take 5 to 6 years to complete.
300 jobs
"It was a real good experience to come out here to get things going back," said Vincent Rabalais, a foreman for Boh Brothers Construction and a member of Carpenters and Pile Drivers Local 1098. Despite hours that can go "daylight till dark," he says, "now that everybody's working together, it just seems natural to everyday get up and rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf."
Eventually, building the bridge will employ 300 construction workers, said Jose Maldonado, a council representative for the Louisiana Carpenters Regional Council. "When I talk to a bunch of those guys and say, ‘Hey, do you want to work at the Twin Span Bridge?' they take pride in working over here. They want to be able to drive across this bridge and say, ‘I built it'."
Fixing the levees, too
While the soaring piles of the bridge are impossible to miss, the changes to the region's maligned levee system are more subtle and, for the most part, invisible. On the 17th Street Canal, only the different color of a stretch of concrete clearly indicates where a fatal breach occurred. It was one of three in the city.
But beneath the surface, the levee wall has been heavily reinforced. And, like on the Twin Span Bridge, it is union construction workers who are making the city's future possible.
"It gives them a great sense of satisfaction in helping to save the community," said Jim Lewis, another council representative for the Carpenters. "This is real vital, and they talk about it all the time."
"A lot of guys feel real proud about that," Maldonado said.
Much more work to do
The pilings supporting the 17th Street Canal levee were only 15-17 feet deep. After Katrina, storm water undermined the supports, causing the levee to fail. In addition, the levee wall itself was a less-stable "I Wall" design, Lewis said.
The repaired levee uses a "T Wall" design, which includes a 16-foot base for more structural integrity. In addition, the vertical pilings are driven 85 feet into the ground (instead of 15 feet), and linked to horizontal pilings that provide even more support. Across the road, new, higher-capacity pumps have been added to get more water out of the city faster. [For an explanation of how the levee system works, see video]
But the height of the levee wall here has not changed, and many other sections of the region's levee system have not changed either. "The [Army Corps of Engineers] feels the current level is good enough as long as the pumps work," Lewis said. However, as an 8-inch deluge of rain Oct. 22 proved, even when the pumps work, they can't drain the city quickly enough to prevent flooding in some circumstances.
Lewis says additional improvements on other sections of the levee are inevitable. Already, levee height has been raised in some areas, but not others. Some residents claim those changes make some neighborhoods more secure, but make nearby neighborhoods more vulnerable.
"The integrity of the levees, the height of the levees, the shape of the levees are all being analyzed to see how good or how bad of shape they're in right now," Lewis said. "Other parts of the levee just have to be built up to snuff so they're as strong as this."
Story written Michael Kuchta, Carpenters Local 87
Photos by Bob Przybylinski, IBEW Local 21, and Frank Larkin, International Association of Machinists
Video by Michael Kuchta and Bob Przybylinski