The first bid has been awarded toward a 26.7 mile flood protection system along southern Orange County. The $1.9 billion project will include seven pump stations to help water drain out past levees and floodwalls.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports the construction on the system should begin in 2022 and be completed by 2026.
The Corps of Engineers last week awarded a bid for the design phase to the Galveston Coastal Service Joint Venture, comprised of the Stantec and Jacobs firms.
Monday morning, Orange County Judge John Gothia told KOGT’s Gary Stelly on the live show ‘People in the Know’ that the county’s administrative building and part of the jail in the downtown courthouse complex will need to be moved. The two buildings are on the banks of the Sabine River.
Gothia said 277 properties across the county will be affected by the construction.
County officials have been working with State Senator Robert Nichols, who represents the county, to get the state to help cover any local costs, Gothia said.
This past November, Texas voters approved a state constitutional amendment, sponsored by Orange County State Representative Dade Phelan. The amendment makes $1.3 billion in state money available to help local entities pay for flood mitigation.
Congress, led by Texas U.S. Senator John Cornyn, in July 2018 approved funding $1.9 billion for the Orange section of the “coastal spine.”
The Orange County section is part of $3.9 billion allocated. Port Arthur will have its dirt levees raised and have about six miles of 19-foot tall floodwalls. The other section will be at Freeport.
Stantec and Jacob in a media release said the Orange County system includes:
* 15.6 miles of new levees,
* 10.7 miles of new concrete floodwalls and gates,
* 7 new pump stations to mitigate interior flooding during surge events,
* 453 acres of marsh restored through a mitigation,
* 560 acres of forested wetlands preserved.
The project will include floodgates that can be opened and closed depending on the circumstances.
Previously, City of Orange Public Works Director Jim Wolf said the city will need $10 million to $12 million to adjust for the system. The city will seek grants to pay for the changes.
The system’s route includes marshland on the south part of the county that runs behind major petrochemical plants like Invista, Dow, and Chevron Phillips.
Gothia said the flood protection system has not been mentioned in negotiations with Chevron Phillips to build a new $5 billion petrochemical plant between State Highway 87 South and FM 1006.
Stantec and Jacobs in a media release said the system “will also increase resistance to long-term impacts due to climate change‑-including sea level rise, land subsidence, increased frequency of abnormally heavy rainfall events, and regional drought.
The engineering plans, including layouts of the system, were on view April 14, 2016, during a public hearing on the project.
Eventually, the plan is to have the Texas Gulf Coast, along with the Houston Ship Channel area, protected from Gulf storms and floods.
Gothia said members of Orange County Commissioners Court have been going to Galveston for meetings on the system to keep informed. He said Don Corona, director of the Orange County Drainage District, has also been participating.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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