Levee Protection

Since 1885, the USACE has been armoring more than 1,000 miles of levees on the Mississippi River to prevent scour and protect the population behind the levee. Over the years, the Corps has developed a process of plating the levees with concrete mats that prevent erosion. To date, about 95% of the levees under the New Orleans District jurisdiction, which reaches as far north as Cairo, Illinois, have been armored and the bulk of work performed today is maintenance on the work completed in the last century.7 BELOW: USACE mat sinking unit, placing concrete revetment mattresses along the Mississippi in Poydras, Louisiana.

Photo courtesy of Angelle Bergeron, New Orleans Correspondent, Engineering News-Record.