Corps examines deepening Houma Navigation Canal

The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers' New Orleans Districti is examining the ramifications of deepening the 36.6-mile Houma Navigation Canal beyond the current 15 ft.

Deepening is being considered because the offshore oil industry is moving to larger vessels that require deeper water. The offshore industry is the primary user of the canal, which links the Gulf of Mexico and the Intracoastal Waterway.

"The canal's depth is an issue important to America's ability to compete in the offshore construction industry," said Col. Peter J. Rowan, district engineer, New Orleans District, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. "We are also working to balance environmental and economic needs."

The re-evaluation study on deepening is being coordinated with the $680 million Morganza to the Gulf Hurricane Protection Project.

DOTD unveils scholarship award program for civil engineering students

Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Kam Movassaghi recently announced the availiability of five $1,000 awards to civil engineering juniors or seniors of Louisiana universities who are interested in transportation as a career.

Beginning in the fall semester of 2003, these five scholarships will be awarded each year for the next three years.

Although the funds are provided by the Southeastern Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (SASHTO), Movassaghi's leadership was instrumental in the decision by the board of directors, of which he is a member, to utilize SASHTO technical conference funds in this manner.

When Louisiana hosted the meeting in 2000 in New Orleans, Movassaghi awarded scholarships to participating states. Before coming to DOTD as secretary, he was a life-long educator and chairman of the civil and environmental engineering department at ULL.

The association made an allocation of $15,000 to each of the states that make up SASHTO. Recipient states include Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Based on scholarship qualifications, applicants will compete on the basis of academic excellence as well as the ability to relate their elective course choices of their curriculum to their vision of transportation as a vocation. Applications for these awards will be submitted to the chair of the civil engineering department of the respective academic institutions.

Corps' Coastal Board focuses on coastal restoration

The Coastal Engineering Research Board (CERB), which provides guidance to the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers for coastal engineering research, met recently in Lafayette.

The theme was "Louisiana Coastal Area Ecosystem Restoration," envisioned by a federal-state study as a $14 billion project. The CERB meeting was open to the public.
The Corps' Mississippi Valley Division, Vicksburg, Miss., and the Corps' New Orleans District hosted the CERB meeting.

The board is supported by the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, U. S. Army Engineering Research and Development Center, based in Vicksburg.

The CERB is a Congressionally authorized advisory board that provides policy guidance and review of plans and funding requirements for coastal research and development to the Corps' Chief of Engineers. The board meets semiannually at coastal and Great Lakes locations.

Board members include four Corps of Engineers generals and three civilian engineers/scientists who are experts in coastal engineering. Maj. Gen. Robert H. Griffin, the Corps' chief of civil works, is president.