NORA
( New Orleans Reigns Again)
Many titles have described New Orleans: The City That Care Forgot, The Big Easy, The Crescent City, and the Queen of the South. One historian has called her “the inevitable city on an impossible site.” Resurrecting herself after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has reemerged as NORA (New Orleans Reigns Again).
NORA boasts a sophisticated levee system, which provides hurricane protection, houses transportation, helps rebuild the wetlands, and reduces air pollution. The levees are constructed of geotubes (special sediment-filled high tensile strength polypropylene bags) that are covered with smart concrete. The geotube material allows water to leave the sediment but not reenter. Located inside these levees, are two tunnels. One tunnel is used for magnetically levitated subways. Another tunnel is used for transporting sediment to be used to rebuild the wetlands. The smart concrete, which is constantly monitored, sends a warning of a possible levee failure and also contains titanium dioxide which when combined with sunlight, cleans the air. These levees are designed to withstand a one in ten thousand year flood. Floodgates are located on the mouths of all canals.
Located in the Mississippi River, sediment submarines collect sediment, normally channeled into the deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico. This sediment, transported in the levee tunnel system, is used for rebuilding the wetlands. These sediment submarines sink to the bottom of the river, where they are filled with sediment and rise to the surface where they discharge the sediment into the tunnel system.
In the center of Lake Ponchartrain, an island made of geotubes, draws many tourists with its international airport. A vast park filled with exotic trees and greenery helps to eliminate pollution. On the edges of the island businesses and luxury hotels thrive. The hotels are sail shaped and rotate to deflect the wind and reduce wind resistance.
A magnetic levitation train system, which travels at 500mph, transports citizens, employees, and cargo throughout surrounding Southern states. A highway system containing four lanes accommodates commuters, cargo, and personal hover cars, with the extra lane used for traffic congestion. Transportation vehicles include hydrogen powered hover cars and solar powered hover boards.
Hydroelectric power supplies an abundant source of inexpensive power and is the main power source. Wind power, solar power, and fusion function as backup sources of energy.
Housing options include pod houses and apartment skyscraper neighborhoods. Pod houses are spherical pods attached to shafts, to which pods can be added. Stairs or elevators lead up to the houses with parking underneath. Apartment complexes are designed to deflect winds and yield more ground space.
A well-educated populace helps fuel the economy. Businesses and trade thrive, particularly in the shipping industry. High employment has reduced the crime rate to near zero. Citizens enjoy a low pollution rate, and an excellent health care system. Nora balances technology with historic preservation. Mardi Gras still reigns, a reminder that NORA, a once devastated city with a bleak future, once again rules the Mississippi.
Engineering Feasibility Plan for
Quartier des Fleurs in NORA
(New Orleans Reigns Again)
A city, like a kaleidoscope, changes constantly. Devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina forced NORA to reinvent herself. City planners and engineers in NORA adhere to the following guidelines when evaluating the feasibility of a development: balance new development with preservation of the past, and ensure that benefits outweigh costs.
A proposed project, Quartier des Fleurs, involves evaluating the redevelopment of a five-acre rectangular lot. This blighted property contains an abandoned “strip mall” with a grocery store, restaurant, and gas station, all situated on land with a slight (<5%) slope with a wetland area located on the low end. Developers who had recently purchased the property approached the city with a redevelopment plan. A Blue Ribbon Commission comprised of planners, engineers, and citizens appointed an engineering firm to determine the feasibility of the proposed development.
The development will consist of a residential/retail four-story structure, designed to accommodate two hundred residents and twenty retail specialty stores and restaurants. The structure will be elevated with the first floor serving as parking for residents and merchants. The center of the complex serves as a park. Another recreational area in the development is the rooftop, complete with pool, jogging trail, tennis court, and gardens. The complex will be constructed of a special concrete, which reacts with sunlight to help reduce air pollution. Additionally, the proposed development would capture and treat storm water runoff and wastewater. This would by accomplished with a combination of bioengineered bacteria and wetland flora planted in the existing wetlands, thereby reducing the load on the city’s utility infrastructure.
Initially, a surveyor performed a satellite-aided survey to determine the site’s boundaries and topography including the location of existing buildings, pavements, vegetation, drainage structures, and utilities. The site was found to be located outside the floodplain and consists predominately of pavement or buildings with little vegetation, except for the wetland area.
The engineers performed a geotechnical and environmental site analysis to detect any contamination, particularly with the abandoned gas tanks and also to determine if the soil could support the building. They performed above ground and subsurface investigations for vegetative growth, pollution, and soil types. When the tests revealed a sandy clay soil with some hydrocarbon contamination from the gas station, the engineers proposed a remediation plan. The plan recommended a new bioremediation technique to clean the soil in place. Oil-eating bacteria, (methanotrophes) when introduced into the soil, would clean it. Additionally, they recommended bioengineered yellow poplars and loblolly pines be planted for on-going phytoremediation. The soil characteristics were such that construction of a hurricane resistant structure was feasible by driving pilings to seventy feet. Finding no surface contamination, the engineers recommended the one-half acre be kept as a wetland in perpetuity and incorporated into the park.
The engineering firm also estimated the requirements for the new development regarding water flow, quality, pressure, and sewer needs with water and sewer requirements based on the “per capita” flow needed/generated. The engineer estimated the equivalent population to perform these calculations. Prevailing standards were used such as a sewage flow of 100gpcd (gallons per capita/day). Since the site is located within the city, water and sewage service are readily available, and the city water is of acceptable quality. Based on the engineer’s estimate of the water and sewer capacity needed, the existing infrastructure was determined to be adequate with minimal updating costs, both from the standpoint of capacity and age/structural integrity.
An engineer specializing in transportation analyzed the development’s impacts as follows: the site is bounded by four recently rehabilitated major arterial roads which would not be impacted by the fewer than 100 vehicles which the development would add. Additionally, the city is planning to add a nearby subway stop for residents and shoppers; hence, the transportation impact is negligible.
The city considered all costs as set forth in the Feasibility Study for Quartier des Fleurs, including site clean up, upgrading of the infrastructure and extending the subway line. The benefits of the redevelopment prevailed, including revitalizing the currently blighted area, providing additional housing and businesses, offering new recreational areas, abating pollution, and maintaining the stewardship of the land.
