PONTILLY HAZARD MITIGATION PROJECT

PONTILLY HAZARD MITIGATION PROJECT

Pontilly is a 900-acre area of New Orleans composed of two low-income, minority neighborhoods, Pontchartrain Park and Gentilly Woods. Pontilly has for decades experienced repetitive losses due to flooding caused by heavy rainfall coupled with the neighborhoods’ natural topography between Lake Pontchartrain to the north and Gentilly Ridge to the south.

A FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program grant funded the analysis, modeling, design, and construction of green infrastructure throughout Pontilly. The stormwater management facilities are necessary retrofits in these existing older neighborhoods. Issues addressed include minimizing severe soil subsidence by promoting infiltration and relieving the burden on drainage pipes and pumps that are taxed beyond their capacities.

As a subconsultant to an engineering firm, DBA designed 38 stormwater lots, 16 green alleyways, two large stormwater parks, 13 blocks of urban bioswales, 24 street basins with bioretention cells, and the 90,500-square-foot Joe M. Bartholomew Golf Course bioswale. Pervious pavers were installed in parallel parking zones.