September 03, 2005
I'm wondering...
Since some of those New Orleans neighborhoods are going to be pretty much total losses, I wonder about the possibility of covering them with enough soil to raise them 20 or 30 feet, then building anew? Obviously the cost would be vast, but I know the Army Corps of Engineers has been desiring to move 500 million cubic yards of sand to start the restoration of the barrier islands. (Here's a link to an article about it) That's got to be at least comparable in size...The cost would be partly offset by an increase in property values for land not in danger of flooding, and also because it would be much easier to rebuild on a clean slate. All the gas, water and sewer pipes could be built right on the surface before the last 3 feet of soil is put down...Then the roads could all be paved at once, with no traffic in the way... Posted by John Weidner at September 3, 2005 09:51 AM | TrackBack
I'm no engineer, but it sounds like a good idea to me...
Posted by: Zoomie at September 3, 2005 07:16 PMWell, considering the incompentence of the NO City Gov't (Ha! Might as well be "no" city gov't over there) and the state of Louisana, I don't think that they would do that.
After all, it would make sense, it would be an efficent use of resources and it would be done quickly.
Things that are not done in leftist/welfare state cities.
Like San Francisco.
Posted by: abraxis at September 4, 2005 01:52 PMIt would just sink again. New Orleans wasn't built in a bowl, human occupation created the bowl.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at September 4, 2005 08:28 PMAOG, you are right, but it's only sinking a centimeter a year. That's a foot in 36 years, so 20 feet of soil would be an investment that would have time to pay off.
And you could design foundations so buildings could be jacked up at some future point and a new layer of soil laid down...
Posted by: John Weidner at September 4, 2005 10:02 PM
