Two new drainage pump stations coming to Metairie

The intersection of Oaklawn Drive and Veterans Boulevard in Metairie was flooded at around 4:40 p.m. Friday, July 22, 2022.

Jefferson Parish officials broke ground Monday on a $17.3 million drainage project in Metairie that officials say will reduce flooding in recurring hotspots and lessen the burden on the parish's drainage system overall.

The project includes two new pump stations just north and south of Veterans Memorial Boulevard and a below-surface drainage line along the 17th Street Canal at the Jefferson-Orleans Parish line.

Jefferson Parish Council member Jennifer Van Vrancken said that the project has been in the works for a decade and Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng said the pumping stations will improve drainage across the parish.

"It's much more than just serving this area, it is relieving pressure on the entire system," Lee Sheng said.

Parish Public Works Director Mark Drewes said the area near Veterans Boulevard and the parish line has long been identified as one of the worst problem areas in the parish for flooding.

There are currently 73 pump stations in Jefferson Parish.

Under the current drainage system, water in the area near Veterans Memorial Boulevard drains to the Bonnabel Canal and then flows into Lake Pontchartrain, Van Vrancken said. But if underground pipes are full, she said, the water in that area is the last to drain. The new pump stations will suck the water from the streets and funnel it directly into the 17th Street Canal and into Lake Pontchartrain.

"It will mean this area benefits tremendously with more quickly moving the water off of the streets here and it also does allow the streets closer to the Bonnabel area to be less inundated and to work more efficiently as well," Van Vrancken said. "This really is a huge improvement for Metairie."

The pump station work is expected to be complete in March 2025. The substations will have backup generators.

The north pump station will pump 80 cubic feet per second and the south station will pump 60 cubic feet per second, the equivalent of emptying an Olympic size swimming pool in 15 minutes between the two stations, said Angela DeSoto, the parish's director of engineering.

DeSoto said the stations will aid the entire parish's drainage system by relieving the pressure at Bonnabel.

"It may not seem like a big area but it will relieve a lot of stress in the area because this is one of the areas that experiences the worst localized flooding during the storms," DeSoto said.

The stations are electric motor driven, meaning they’ll be quiet, and will be surrounded by a brick wall "for aesthetic purposes," DeSoto noted.

A third pump station planned for the end of West Esplanade is in the design phase, DeSoto said.