Infrastructure Improvements for Jackson Barracks

Forte and Tablada, Inc. was tasked by the Louisiana Army National Guard to design plans and specifications in 70 days to reconstruct the destroyed Jackson Barracks infrastructure starting with no information, as all as-builts and records were destroyed.  Jackson Barracks was completely inundated as a result of flooding due to the Hurricane Katrina. The scope of the infrastructure reconstruction effort included sanitary sewer, water, gas, roadways, drainage, electrical, and communications. As the prime, Forte and Tablada, Inc. quickly assembled a design team of civil, geotechnical, electrical, and mechanical engineers and designers from four different firms while working with National Guard master planners and historical preservationists to complete this challenging project on time.

First, a topographic survey of the entire 150-acre site was taken, identifying boundaries, buildings, roadways, existing utilities, drainage structures, ground elevations, and other significant topographical features part of the historic preservation of the site. Created using high resolution aerial photographs and extensive field work, this survey was used by the master planners and several other architect/engineer firms tasked with building design.

Delivering the plans and specifications for the required infrastructure reconstruction consisted of an underground primary power and communication loop around the entire facility that included over 65 miles of conduit and cable; transformers and termination points; a perimeter and street lighting, including over 450 fixtures; a new water distribution system with 4.5 miles of water distribution piping; fire hydrants; a 200,000-gallon ground storage tank and a 1,500-gallon per minute booster pump station; a sanitary sewer collection system with  11,000 linear feet of sanitary sewer pipe, 60 manholes and three 100 GPM lift stations; a drainage system that included over 4,500 linear feet of drainage pipe and 40 drainage structures; and drives consisting of 3,330 linear feet of curb and gutter roadways and 1,700 tons of asphalt overlay.