New Orleans completes drainage project

A $61.7 million drainage system has been completed in New Orleans just in time to help residents and businesses cope with spring rain floods and the hurricane season.

"The new system will make a dramatic difference in rainfall flood protection in uptown and Broadmoor, two of our most flood-prone neighborhoods," said Mayor Ray Nagin, president of the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans.

"This had been achieved by increasing pump station capacity and adding new covered canals," said Col. Peter J. Rowan, district engineer, New Orleans District, U. S. Army Corps of Engineer.

"Second, to harness gravity better once again, the new canals were dug as much as 5 ft. deeper to compensate for a corresponding loss of elevation more than 90 years," Rowan said.

The system includes four projects. The final project is a covered canal, or underground box culvert, that extends 1,320 ft. along South Claiborne Avenue from Jena Street to Louisiana Avenue.

Maximum dimensions of the $15.2 million covered canal are 10 ft. deep and 24 ft. wide.

The Corps of Engineers and the Sewerage & Water Board built the new system. It is part of the SELA rain-flood protection project. SELA's full name is Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project.

The Corps and local partners in Orleans, Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes are building it. Costs are shared 75 percent federal and 25 percent local.

Valero announces $120 million expansion

Valero Refining Co. of Norco recently held a ceremonial groundbreaking to announce the construction of the gasoline desulfurization unit at the company's St. Charles Parish refinery.

The $120 million expansion will produce more than 1.5 million gallons of clean-burning gasoline daily. The project will take about 18 months, employ 500 construction workers and create five permanent jobs. Matrix Engineering and A&B Builders Ltd. are responsible for the major part of the construction.

"This project is the beginning of a plan to convert the refinery into a world class operation," said Jonathon Stuart, regional vice president and general manager of the St. Charles refinery. "We also have many other projects planned that will improve the plant's reliability, increase capacity and upgrade existing equipment, all of which will improve our profitability."

Valero purchased the refinery from the Orion Refining Corp. in July 2003. The facility employs 550 full-time employees and 350 contract employees, and refines 155,000 barrels of oil per day.

Construction Supervisors improve skills through AGC STP Course

Eighteen individuals from three metro New Orleans area construction firms recently completed an intensive course to improve construction jobsite supervisory skills.

Sponsored by members of the Louisiana AGC - New Orleans District, the Supervisory Training Program (STP) course covered Problem Solving & Decision Making.

The Problem Solving & Decision Making class was held Tuesday and Thursday evenings beginning Jan. 20 and ending Feb. 19. The class, led by Ronnie Scott, personnel & safety director with Professional Construction Services Inc., was conducted at the AGC-New Orleans office.

All participants were presented a certificate of completion for the STP course during a graduation program at the AGC office.

STP Problem Solving & Decision Making participants and their sponsoring employers are as follows:

• Brian Andre', Wayne Bremermann, Chad Brignac, Troy Bush, Brett Caillouet, Nicholas Fleming, Robert King, Damon Roy, Johnny Scruggs and Michael Springer, all with Boh Bros. Construction Co., LLC of New Orleans.
  
• Jerry Baggett Jr., Ronnie Dunshee and Santos Soto, all with Fleming Construction Co., Inc. of Kenner.
  
• Mark Carroza, Perry Dugas, Greg Heaslip, Mark Lambert and Scott Ryan, all with Gray Insurance Co. of Metairie.

A 10-part, AGC of America copyrighted series, the Supervisory Training Program is designed to improve the jobsite management skills and improve productivity of construction supervisory personnel.

New Dow facility featured at Governor's Conference on Economic Development

Dow USA was highlighted as one of four companies in Louisiana with plans to grow in the state at a Conference on Economic Development recently hosted by Gov. Kathleen Blanco.

Dow was featured in conjunction with the company's plans to build a new latex facility at Union Carbide Corporation's St. Charles Operations in Hahnville.

The project represents more than $100 million and is expected to have approximately 30 permanent employees. The facility is part of Dow's UCAR Emulsion Systems (UES), which produces and markets emulsions or polymers - also known as latexes - for paints and construction materials such as sealants and caulks. Latex is what makes paint actually stick to walls.

The project's construction phase will create about 350 construction jobs at its peak and the duration of construction will last about 19 months.

One of Louisiana's largest petrochemical producers, Dow has more than 6,000 employees and contract employees and more than $8 billion in assets located around the state.