In 2006, following the damage done by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Congress authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin a number of projects designed to reduce the risk to the New Orleans metropolitan area from a 100-year storm. One of the largest projects in the plan is the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Lake Borgne Surge Reduction Project – or IHNC Surge Barrier for short. It is the largest surge barrier of its kind in the world, stretching about 2 miles across the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the Mississippi River Outlet. Its purpose is to reduce the risk of storm surge from the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Borgne, protecting some of the most vulnerable areas in the region, including New Orleans East, New Orleans Metro, the 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish. It is the largest design/build civil works project that the Corps has ever built, estimated to cost about $1.3 billion. The hosts talk with Rick Kendrick, Chief of Program Execution for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Hurricane Protection Office in New Orleans, which is overseeing approximately $5.9 billion of risk reduction construction projects in Southeast Louisiana, including the IHNC Surge Barrier