Terrebonne levee district updates board on Morganza-to-the-Gulf lock complex, marsh creation

The Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District on the evening updated the Terrebonne Parish School Board’s Finance, Insurance and Section 16 Lands Committee on construction progress for the Morganza‑to‑the‑Gulf hurricane risk reduction project and its Homa Navigational Canal (HNC) Lock Complex.

Angela Hidalgo, executive director of the Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District, introduced Mitch Mormont, the district’s program manager, who gave the presentation. Mormont said the project extends from Gibson to the Company Canal in Lockport and that about 85 of the 100‑mile alignment has been built, with 14 floodgates installed. He said construction on the HNC Lock Complex began last year and the overall project budget for the HNC lot complex work is $400,000,000, funded with RESTORE Act dollars derived from penalties related to the BP oil spill.

Mormont described the HNC Lock Complex as replacing a temporary “Bubba Dov” floodgate with a lock and sector‑gate configuration that will allow navigation to continue during higher water levels and will give operators more flexibility to control salinity and interior water levels. “It will increase our economic ability to move commerce through the parish and also give us a little flexibility in controlling salinity and water levels inside the system,” Mormont said.

He said the project has created marsh on Section 16 lands: 54 acres already constructed via dredging and a second phase of about 33 acres planned, for roughly 87 acres of new marsh on Section 16 property. Mormont said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps, “the core” in the transcript) is building a larger, higher levee at a portion of the project that required about 20–30 feet of additional right‑of‑way on school property.

Committee members asked about how often the lock would operate. Mormont said the existing configuration forced full closure when water rose 2.5 feet, while the new lock complex should operate up to roughly 6 feet and still permit navigation. He said the structure is typically open from June through October and may be manipulated at other times to control salinity or high‑water events. Construction is approximately 1½ years in, with about two additional years of work remaining, Mormont said.

Board members thanked the levee district for the update and asked about a site visit; Mormont and Hidalgo invited the committee to schedule a field trip to observe the Section 16 lands and the HNC complex operations.

The presentation was informational; no committee vote or formal action was taken.