1. Why Should People be Concerned about proposed lock replacement? The Army Corps of Engineers' construction project is hazardous to health, puts homeowners at risk for flooding and is extraordinarily expensive to taxpayers.
2. What problems have arisen in the past? The Industrial Canal, which opened in 1923, breached twice, in 1965 and again in 2005, causing billions of dollars in damage, flooding hundreds of homes and ripping apart neighborhoods. In both instances, a canal wall collapsed due to faulty construction and negligence. More than1,000 people perished.
3. What are the costs of replacing the lock?   The Corps estimates the construction project will cost $951 million and endure 13 years, but the Corps is notorious for large cost overruns and delays. The project will disrupt traffic from St. Bernard and the Lower Ninth Ward over two bridges, causing daily traffic jams for more than 50,000 people and putting those same people at serious risk during hurricane season. Some residents will need to “temporarily" move, but 58 million dollars has been set aside for massive relocation. An interim bridge will be built during construction of a new bridge, destroying the nationally significant lock and landmark St. Claude Bridge. Corporations will benefit from widening the canal, while residents and businesses experience all the inconveniences and diminished real estate values.
4. What risks do Lower Ninth Ward residents face as a result of excavation? Residents, homeowners, business and property owners will be impacted during construction by exposure to toxic sediments (Barium, Chromium, Arsenic and Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons) at the bottom of the canal, as well as vibrations from pile driving and dynamiting. Moving the lock inland 12 blocks will bring the water level of the Mississippi River into neighborhoods.
5. How will the construction impact property values  This noisy, dirty and annoying project will discourage investment in new housing and business development. (Holy Cross is now the fastest growing neighborhood in the city with the most dramatic increases in home values. Arabi is also experiencing a renaissance.) Flood risk will increase along with flood insurance rates for homeowners who only recently resettled.
6. What are the economic benefits of the project to citizens of New Orleans? None.
7. What liability does the Corps assume when its projects fail? None

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