Comite River Diversion Project, Baton Rouge, LA

ICE Teams worked closely with the US Army Corp of Engineers and LADOTD, to construct three new 5-span highway structures, along with a railroad bridge, that will relieve thousands of residents from potential flood threats that have been exacerbated by the flood of 2016. The task was to divert flood flows from the Comite River to the Mississippi River north of Baton Rouge, LA.  The USACE delivered the river diversion portion of the project, and LADOTD constructed bridges across the river diversion for LA19, LA67, and the Geaux-Geaux Railroad (GGRR), which is in the same corridor as LA19.  The GGRR improvements included constructing a temporary shoo-fly, placing the trains on the shoo-fly, then building a 5 span, steel through-plate girder bridge (305’ total length), then placing the trains on the new bridge and removing the temporary shoo-fly, and then excavating the diversion channel under the new bridge.  LADOTD used the CMGC delivery method due to the complexity of the project phasing, the railroad bridge construction, and they wanted to take advantage of risk mitigation strategies and innovations that the CMGC delivery method invites. ICE Teams provided independent cost estimating, construction scheduling, risk management, and constructability reviews on this project.