Mandeville officials discuss 190 drainage let downs

The U.S. Highway 190 project in Mandeville is coming to a close, but Parish President Kevin Davis is unhappy with some aspects of the construction.

At a recent Mandeville City Council meeting, Mayor Eddie Price announced his officials met with parish and state officials concerning the completion of the $20-plus million project that widened the obsolete two-lane highway to a five-lane freeway.

They’re apprehensive about the drainage designs the state mapped out for the area around the Parc du Lac and Greenleaves subdivisions, Price said.

He said the water’s natural flow is to course southwest from Greenleaves through the drainage under U.S. 190, out of a set of culverts and through the large pipes leading into a retention pond in the Parc du Lac neighborhood.

The water flows just fine, Price said. The problem is the height of the culverts the water comes out of just before entering the pipes leading to the retention pond. They’re too low.

The water draining from Greenleaves and the adjacent area finds it way under the highway just fine but the pipes leading to the retention pond are several feet higher, causing the water to back up until it reaches a high enough level to drain through the pipes.

Price said officials currently have pilings supporting the cement foundation the pipes are in but they will have to come out sooner or later and he’s worried when they remove them, the torrents of water slamming against the wall under the pipes will cause it to fail.

“I think it’s in the parish’s lap now, and I think they’re going to really push the ball on it,” Price said.

Davis’ office could not be reached for comment by press time.

In other news:

• Mandeville officials also announced at the meeting they received the underwater survey of Bayou Castine near the Mandeville harbor. The study found the depth of the water near the harbor to be only five-feet deep instead of the more acceptable and safer 10-foot depth.

With the results in, the city will move ahead with plans to dredge the area.

• Officials also announced they received the go ahead from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with their wetland assimilation project that will deposit treated refuse along a 6,000-foot stretch of marshland. The first in the parish, the project will help rebuild the wetlands bordering the city.