New Orleans port contracts Hard Rock Construction for intermodal terminal project

The Port of New Orleans Board of Commissioners has awarded a $13.3 million contract to Hard Rock Construction L.L.C. for the Mississippi River Intermodal Terminal project.

Scheduled for completion in February 2016, the project calls for constructing a rail yard with 10,000 linear feet of track and five acres of heavy-duty paving for transferring containers at the port, which is served by six Class Is. The rail yard will be reconfigured and modernized into an intermodal container transfer facility (ICTF).

Existing rail lines will be removed after new tracks are completed so intermodal service at the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal won't be interrupted, port officials said in a press release. The 12-acre ICTF will facilitate the movement of marine and rail cargo, as well as enhance safety and reduce the carbon footprint of the regional and national transportation system, they said.

"We are thrilled to see this project moving forward," said Gary LaGrange, the port's president and chief executive officer. "New Orleans is the only U.S. seaport [served by] all six U.S. Class Is with 132,000 miles of connecting rail tracks."

In 2012, the port received a $16.7 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant for the project. The port and Louisiana Port Construction and Development Priority Program matched a portion of the federal grant to build an adjacent $4.1 million, four-acre container marshalling yard at the upriver end of the Louisiana Avenue Terminal, which was completed earlier this year.

Including new terminal equipment projected to cost $3.5 million and engineering and project management services provided by AECOM, the the Mississippi River Intermodal Terminal project's total cost is estimated at $21 million.