In August of 2005, New Orleans and its surrounding areas experienced one of the five deadliest hurricanes in history and the costliest natural disaster in history. The tragedy that we were all witness to as the storm surges collapsed a 4,000-foot-long section of floodwall, and flooded the city and surrounding areas leading to numerous deaths in the area. The US Army Corp of Engineers were assigned the task to build a barrier wall to protect the City of New Orleans and surrounding areas, and prevent a tragedy like this from ever occurring again.

This project consists of a 1½-mile long flood wall and three floodgates, one of which is the sector gate across the 40-foot deep Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW). The GIWW Sector Gate opens and closes a shallow-draft channel with the sill being 16 ft deep, and features a 150-foot-wide opening. The monolith walls and gates are 26ft high as dictated by anticipated storm surges. The team of Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure, CJ Mahan Construction Co., and others worked together to build the surge protection barrier. Alfab Inc. was chosen to build the barrier railing system that would be installed on top of the sector gate and monolith structure. The construction team knew that this railing would be in the constant salt water environment and have to endure the rigorous, corrosive conditions.

The team looked at several ideas to protect this barrier railing including stainless steel, but decided on hot-dip galvanizing (HDG) after researching the lower initial cost, life cycle cost savings, and corrosion protection it could provide. HDG will provide long lasting, maintenance-free corrosion protection to the security railing system for many years to come. Visitors will now be able to stand at the railing atop the monolith and view spectacular 360 degree views, and stand in awe of the "Mighty Mississippi."