The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, and Plaquemines Port Harbor & Terminal District officials are set to sign the Design Agreement for the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) Beneficial Use of Dredged Material Program (BUDMAT) project today at 333 F Edward Herbert Boulevard, Building 100 in Belle Chase.
According to USACE, dredged material for the project will come from the routine maintenance dredging of the Tiger Pass federal navigation channel from about mile 7 to mile 14 on the Mississippi River.
The Tiger Pass navigation channel begins just south of the Venice Marina.
The total design cost is estimated at $1.6 million under a 75-percent federal/25-percent non-federal cost-sharing agreement and will create about 150 acres of new habitat.
The project is part of the overall LCA BUDMAT program, which aims to restore and create coastal landscape features such as, but not limited to, marshes, ridges and islands that provide wildlife and fisheries habitat, reduce the loss of existing coastal landscape features and provide risk reduction to Louisiana’s coastal infrastructure.