The Army Corps of Engineers is planning to temporarily close down some areas of The Fly, a popular Uptown park on the levee by Audubon Park, for a much-needed upgrade. The Corps will hold a public input meeting about the project at 6:00pm Thursday at the Audubon Nature Institute.
Back when the Corps built the levee along the river they left a bit of a hole. Standing on the downriver side of the park, project manager Nic Sims points to where the road crosses the railroad tracks. “You can see the levee right here, and over here you will see a dip…that’s where the railroad track crosses through on the levee center line.” Sims says that dip could cause a problem if there was a big flood – sending water straight into Children’s Hospital and Audubon Park. The Corps plans to build a 65-foot floodwall from the levee to hospital to fix the problem.
Sims wants to prepare people for the impact of the project, which will close some areas of the park. A few parking lots will be demolished and will serve as temporary staging grounds for the work. Roads will remain open. Sims doesn’t know when all of this will happen yet. The project, which will cost between $1 and $5 million, is just going up to bid.
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