L.B. Foster to provide sheet piling for New Orleans flood walls

L.B. Foster Co., Pittsburgh, Pa., has been awarded a $23.1 million contract to provide steel sheet piling to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for the construction of a T-wall type flood walls in the New Orleans area. The PZC™ piling will be manufactured in lengths of 20 to 75 ft. at the Gerdau Ameristeel Petersbury, Va., facility and stored for convenient availability at L.B. Foster's New Orleans storage facility.

According to the company, T-wall construction is a field-proven design for effective flood wall structures that must withstand the surge elevation of a 100 year type hurricane. PZC-13 sheet piling will form an efficient below ground cutoff wall to prevent or minimize lateral water migration from undermining the T-wall. A protective coating of 16 mils of coal tar epoxy will be applied to the top 15 feet of each PZC steel sheet to assure long-term corrosion resistance. "Our domestically produced PZC sheet piling is manufactured to be wider, lighter and stronger than traditional Z piling. The Army Corps has deemed this product to be an efficient solution for this type of critical application," noted David Maedgen, Gerdau Ameristeel Piling Sales Manager.

L.B. Foster/Gerdau Ameristeel sheet piling will form a protective barrier within T-wall structures in Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, St. Charles and Plaquemine parishes. The USACE determined it would be beneficial to source material while mill capacity is readily available. "Gerdau Ameristeel and L.B. Foster worked closely as a strategic team to manage manufacturing costs and rolling capacity to win this important material supply contract," said Gary Wheeler, L.B. Foster Piling General Manager. Material shipments for the Corps of Engineers T-wall projects are scheduled to be completed by June 2011.