Rebuilding New Orleans Infrastructure

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Feb 21, 2012

by Taylor Randall

Today marks Mardi Gras, a day known for its parades and revelry and made famous by New Orleans, Louisiana. And I’d have to think that in recent years, each Mardi Gras gets a little more crowded, a little louder, and a little more joyful. New Orleans has endured a slow and painful process of rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina crippled the region in August 2005.

Just before the holiday and more than six years after floodwalls and levees broke and flooded four-fifths of the city, New Orleans celebrated a milestone: The last Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailer was removed February 12. It was the last of the 203,000 mobile homes and travel trailers FEMA shipped to victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the hurricanes that destroyed more than 300,000 homes and displaced approximately 700,000 people.

New Orleans' Joy Theater, a historic landmark located in a major commercial region in downtown New Orleans, is being repaired and leading the way for other restorations.

"I think people are understanding that the value of a city is in its infrastructure," Joy Theater architect Kenneth Gowland told USA Today.

In addition to rebuilding the residential and commercial infrastructure washed away in the storms, the Army Corps of Engineers is fortifying the city to help prevent such a catastrophe from happening again. They’re erecting a billion-dollar storm surge barrier. In addition, they’re fortifying the levees that failed in Katrina and constructing new levees - ones anchored more than 100 feet below ground and tall enough to withstand massive storms. All told, it’s a $14.3 billion project.

The money to rebuild the city continues to stream in: The federal government allocated $34.5 billion in rebuilding aid for the state, and FEMA recently promised $14 million for neighborhood street repairs. It’s even garnered the attention of celebrities: Actor Brad Pitt founded Make It Right in 2007, a nonprofit dedicated to building 150 platinum LEED certified homes in the neighborhood closest to the levee breach. On March 10, Pitt and Ellen DeGeneres will host “A Night to Make it Right,” a star-filled gala raising funds to drive the project to completion.

Meanwhile, the Big Easy’s economy is being fueled by new business development. On February 17 General Electric announced that it will be bringing an information technology office to New Orleans. The new office, which GE hopes will be operational by mid-2012, will employ 300 people and create about 300 more indirect jobs in and around the city.

In spite of recent hardship, New Orleans has big plans ahead: 2013 Super Bowl preparations are already under way, and the city is hosting the 2012 Final Four basketball tournament - not to mention one of the biggest parties of the year. As the city continues on its road to recovery, it’s going to need funding, volunteers, business development - and steel - to rebuild its infrastructure.

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