commentFive years after Hurricane Katrina chased businesses out of New Orleans and wreaked havoc on the area’s infrastructure, one of the country’s leading engineering firms is returning to the Crescent City.
Volkert Inc., a design, planning, environmental and construction engineering consulting firm based in Mobile, Ala., is returning to New Orleans, where the company was first established 85 years ago.
Katrina forced the company to relocate its New Orleans operations to Livingston Parish and, later to Baton Rouge. The new Volkert office at 4640 South Carrollton Avenue opened Sept. 1 with 17 employees.
“While Volkert will maintain the office and services in Baton Rouge and the construction office in Slidell, La., current projects also dictated our return to New Orleans,” said Paul Griggs, vice president and manager of Louisiana Engineering Operations for Volkert
Volkert was one of the first engineering firms to begin post-Katrina rebuilding efforts in New Orleans.
Within 48 hours of the storm’s passing, the company dispatched assessment specialists to the hurricane-damaged I-10 Twin Span Bridge over Lake Pontchartrain.
Volkert now operates 20 offices in 11 states and the District of Columbia. The company is consistently rated in the top 1 percent of engineering firms in the U.S. by Engineering News Record.
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