'A beautiful day': Officials cut ribbon for Bayou Chene structure

The biggest structure of its kind in the country, designed to eliminate one of the region's most persistent flooding vulnerabilities, was officially opened when Gov. John Bel Edwards cut the ceremonial ribbon at the Bayou Chene Flood Control Structure.

Boats carried state and local official and representatives of the companies that worked on the $80 million project from the Amelia boat launch to the structure.

"It is far more than what I envisioned in my mind ...," Edwards said on the deck of the 446-foot barge that is the structure's centerpiece. "This is what $80 million will do."

"Today -- today is a beautiful day," said state Sen. Bret Allain, one of the lawmakers who struggled for most of a decade to secure funding for the structure.

The structure is designed to block back-flooding when the Atchafalaya River runs high. High water on the river can result in flooding in six parishes, threatening 6,000 homes and 1,000 businesses, Allain said.

Three times since 2011, officials ordered a barge floated into place on Bayou Chene and then sank it to block flooding. The solution worked, but it required days to put into operation and cost millions of dollars.

The new structure is composed of the barge, constructed at Bollinger's Amelia facility, which can be moved into place into a holding structure. Closure, which will be triggered when the Atchafalaya at Morgan City reaches 7 feet, will now require hours rather than days.

Among the dignitaries at Friday's event was Chip Kline, director of the Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority, the agency through which funding was secured.

"It's good to say we no longer have to worry about sheet piles and barges," Kline said. "The Bayou Chene Structure is in place."