The town of Jean Lafitte is getting another boost to its flood protection as officials prepare to construct about two miles of concrete floodwalls along Bayou Barataria.

Mayor Tim Kerner said the town has been awarded more than $10 million from the Louisiana Recovery Authority and the Louisiana Statewide Flood Control program to build the second phase of the Fisher Basin tidal levee project. About 70 percent of the funding came from the LRA and the rest came from the LSFC program.

The Army Corps of Engineers is finishing up the first phase of that project, which included 4.7 miles of earthen levees along the southern edge of the town that abuts marshland. That project cost $4.7 million and raised the town's existing levees to seven feet above sea level and constructed levees in areas without them. It was paid for through a combination of state and federal funds.

Kerner said the newest project will feature a line of floodwalls along Bayou Barataria that are 7.5 to 8 feet above sea level and will connect to phase one. If phase three of the project is funded, it will complete the ring of protection, he said. Kerner hopes to secure funding for that final phase soon through federal or state sources.

"We're just trying to complete a project; we're just trying to finish one," Kerner said.

Before bids can be sought for the project, surveyors will have to determine how much property must be purchased or expropriated along the bayou, Kerner said. He was not clear how long that would take, but said the cost for property acquisition had been included in the project. Once construction begins, Kerner expects the project to take at least two years.

To qualify for the funding, the town had to develop a cost/benefit analysis that demonstrated exactly which areas of the town were at risk of flooding and how that would be alleviated by the new levees. That data was then reviewed by the state agencies before funding was sought from the Legislature.

During Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Jean Lafitte was inundated by water from both the north and south, and Kerner believes the new levee system will greatly reduce that problem. He noted that once the levees are completed, town officials can focus on sandbagging around those areas that are still vulnerable instead of trying to encircle the entire town.

"All of the town is a problem area and phase two is going to take care of that," Kerner said.

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Allen Powell II can be reached at apowell@timespicayune.com and 504.826.3793.

Copyright 2008 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company