Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center Relocation, Lafayette, La.

Cost: $140 million

Construction is underway of the $140 million Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center on Ambassador Caffery Parkway in Lafayette, La. The 396,000-sq-ft, 192-bed hospital will replace the existing facility and will allow for future medical office buildings.

By the end of April, the joint venture of The Lemoine Co. of Lafayette, La. and Brasfield & Gorrie of Birmingham, Ala., had completed installation of about 1,000, 18-in auger cast piles ranging in depth from 50-65 ft., says Tim Burdette, Lemoine’s project manager. “We are currently working on shallow foundations - pile caps, grade beams and pedestals – and are on schedule with site utility installation and earthwork.”

The 45-acre site, chosen to accommodate future expansion, was a greenfield. The joint venture installed infrastructure, including site utilities, site entrances, roads and parking areas.

Because the project is fast-tracked, it’s been a challenge for the contractor to order long-lead-time materials for mechanical, electrical and plumbing, Burdette says. “Moving a whole facility takes a lot of planning, so we have to make the owner’s move-in dates.”

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The medical center will be made of structural steel with a façade of metal panels and brick masonry, and will feature two, six-story towers separated by a central elevator core for patient rooms; and a main building that includes a first floor of public areas and a second story designated as the procedural platform.

Key Players

US Army Corps of Engineers Task Order No. 3, Harvey, La.

Cost: $132 million

Cajun Constructors’ $132 million massive contract to build 8,000 linear ft of concrete flood walls for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is one of four being executed by the contractor under a $250 million Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract awarded following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, says Scottie Melancon, Cajun’s project manager. The first two awards were for a $50 million section of wall along Peters Road in Harvey, La., and the second was for $15 million of work at Bayou Segnette, Melancon says. The contractor is also moving forward on a $50 million fourth contract under the IDIQ award, but Task Order No. 3 represents the lion’s share, requiring 275 workers and 30 cranes.

“It goes from the Lapalco Bridge to just north of Boomtown Casino and will include about 4,000, steel, H-piles that are approximately 120 ft. long,” Melancon says. The T-wall (built like an inverted T) is 8 in thick and averages 16 ft in height with a 3-ft-thick by approximately 12-ft-wide concrete footing. “It’s massive,” Melancon says. “The total amount of concrete will be about 30,000 yards.”

Cajun is constructing the wall along Peters Road, about 300 ft inside and roughly parallel to the existing earthen levee system, which lines the bank of Harvey Canal. “When we put up a T-wall, we are cutting off drainage from those businesses located between the Harvey Canal and the T-wall,” Melancon says. “We built and are installing 18 drainage structures that feature knife gate valves, which help cut through material that may clog the drainage structures.”

Key Players

US Coast Guard Integrated Support Command, New Orleans, La.

Cost: $77.5 million

When construction of the $77.5 million U.S. Coast Guard Integrated Support Command and Tenants New Orleans facility is complete in 2010, the Coast Guard will have a 26-acre permanent home on the grounds of the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility that includes six divisions and seven tenant commands.

Since Hurricane Katrina devastated the ISC NOLA that was located several miles south of the new location, the U.S. Coast Guard and tenants have enjoyed temporary facilities at NASA Michoud. However, since May 2008 the joint venture of the design-build firm of Broadmoor LLC of Metairie and the heavy civil contractor Boh Bros. Construction LLC of New Orleans have been fast at work to deliver the new facilities “on time and within budget,” says Greg Lusignan, project manager.

In addition to miles of utility, infrastructure and site work, the project includes construction of two main buildings, two storage areas and waterfront facilities, Lusignan says. The 86,000-sq-ft Administration Building includes a berthing area, medical unit, dental facilities, office space and a complete kitchen and dining facility. There is a wharf and pier, boat lift and a flood gate that allows the Coast Guard to move its boats directly from the new wharf into the new industrial building. The 57,000-sq-ft industrial building is custom-designed to facilitate the needs of the USCG’s fleet.

The project is being constructed as LEED certified.

Key Players

Hero Pumping Station Fronting Protection, West Bank & Vicinity, Harvey, La.

Cost: $62.3 million

The $62.3 million contract to build 1,188 linear ft of concrete T-walls on the West Bank of New Orleans on either side of the Hero Pump Station is similar to work going on elsewhere throughout the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System. The inverted T-shaped walls made of reinforced steel and concrete will vary in height from 16 to 27 ft with bases ranging from 3 to 5 ft wide.

The challenges for contractor Boh Bros. Construction Co. LLC of New Orleans involve maintaining operation of the 3,900-cu-ft-per-second capacity discharge drainage pump station while building the walls 100 ft to the west, says Kevin Stolzenthaler, project manager for Boh.

“The tough portion of the job is phasing,” Stolzenthaler says. “Because this pump station drains the West Bank area, we have to keep it operative at all times. We are only allowed to take out a maximum of 1,000 cfs at all times.” The contractor is going to concurrently build the T-walls on either side of the canal and leave the middle open. Then Boh will construct cofferdams on either side of the canal to construct the T-wall there. The contractor will extend the discharge pipes beyond the cofferdams to maintain flow during construction and install butterfly valves in each of the station’s 10 pumps to prevent backflow in the event of storm surge. “Before we actually install the cofferdams, we are going to install temporary flood protection sheeting to meet the Corps’ requirements to have temporary measures in place before removing any existing flood protection,” Stolzenthaler says.

Key Players

L. B. Landry High School, New Orleans, La.

Cost: $52.7 million

Construction of the $52.7 million L.B. Landry High School in New Orleans is one of several contracts that Satterfield & Pontikes Construction, Inc. of Houston is performing in the Hurricane Katrina-affected area since arriving three weeks after the 2005 storm. In addition to working on the National World War II Museum and Marathon Oil Refinery in Garyville, La., the contractor has performed “millions of dollars of remediation for the New Orleans School District” since Katrina, says Chris Head, project manager on Landry.

However, construction of the 214,000-sq-ft, LEED Silver-certified, four-story high school, which will replace the one destroyed by Katrina, is unusually satisfying for the contractor. “This is the 51st school I’ve built in my career, and it’s one of the most unique,” Head says. The school is designed in a horseshoe to embrace a more than 50-year-old magnolia that is significant to the neighborhood, he says. Additionally, the modern-looking structure features glaze block, terrazzo and other high-end finishes that make it visually appealing, but also hardened against future flooding. “It is being built so it can be rinsed out, instead of going through remediation,” Head says. “It’s something the community can be very proud of for years to come.”

Rooftop mechanical equipment and an above-floodplain elevated slab are examples of other storm-hardening features.

Key Players

Start/Complete: October 2008/April 2010
Owner: Louisiana Department of Education, New Orleans Recovery School District
Contractor: Satterfield & Pontikes Construction Inc., Houston, Texas
Architect and/or Engineer: Eskew + Dumez + Ripple, New Orleans, La.