Mounes Street Drainage
Building Bigger Drainage Beneath a Corridor That Can’t Stop
Mounes Street is one of Elmwood’s working arteries, serving warehouses, distribution centers, businesses, residential streets, and heavy truck traffic every day. Beneath that activity runs another critical system: the infrastructure responsible for carrying stormwater out of the area. RNGD is expanding that capacity with approximately 2,400 linear feet of 10-foot by 8-foot box culvert between Dealers Avenue and Crochet Ditch, strengthening the connection to the broader Pump to the River drainage system.
The challenge is that the work cannot happen independently from everything above and around it. Traffic still has to move. Businesses still have to receive deliveries. Residents need access to their streets. Fiber-optic lines, water, gas, sewer, overhead power, and a sewer lift station all occupy the same narrow corridor where crews are excavating, driving sheets, setting culvert sections, and rebuilding the roadway.
That makes Mounes a project defined as much by sequencing as construction. RNGD has had to engineer the work around the corridor rather than expect the corridor to adapt to the work.
Installing 2,400 Feet With Almost No Room to Stage It
Most of the new drainage route consists of massive precast concrete box sections. Before those sections can go underground, RNGD crews establish the work zone, install sheet piling and temporary support systems, excavate to the required depth, and prepare the alignment. The boxes then arrive in the exact sequence needed for installation.
With virtually no room to stockpile the box culverts, each section has to move from the delivery truck directly into the excavation, requiring tight coordination between trucking, traffic control, crane operations, excavation readiness, and the installation crew. At the same time, existing utility infrastructure dictates where crews can drive sheets, open excavations, and make connections.
At Crochet Ditch, the project shifts from repeatable precast installation to its most technically demanding structure. RNGD is constructing a double-story, cast-in-place box connection approximately 35 to 40 feet below grade while an active drainage canal crosses above it. Approximately 50-foot sheet piles and multiple levels of bracing create the temporary structure needed to work at that depth. Temporary dams and pumps control the water while crews form and place the new drainage structure beneath the canal.
Rewriting the Sequence to Keep Work Moving
RNGD challenged the sequence originally contemplated for the project and developed an alternate phasing plan with Jefferson Parish. Instead of working through a series of shorter sections with repeated transitions, the team reorganized closures and work zones to create longer productive runs and reduce time lost moving between phases.
That plan is supported by one-month, three-month, and six-month look-ahead schedules that connect what is happening in the excavation today with utilities, closures, deliveries, and work areas months ahead. When conditions threaten one part of the sequence, crews can shift production rather than allowing a single issue to stall the entire project.
Rain can quickly change canal levels and conditions inside a 35- to 40-foot excavation. The team continuously monitors water and soil conditions while inspecting the sheet pile system and temporary dams. When weather requires it, the excavation can be intentionally flooded so water can move safely through the area. Once conditions improve, crews pump the excavation dry, re-establish the work zone, and keep moving.
Strengthening Elmwood Without Disconnecting It
The scale of the construction underground is matched by the logistics above it. Major commercial operations depend on Mounes Street, so closures and traffic shifts must be coordinated well before crews reach each phase. With practically no laydown space, deliveries, cranes, excavation equipment, utility work, and everyday commercial traffic all have to occupy the corridor without bringing it to a stop.
RNGD has also adjusted its means and methods when standard procedures presented unnecessary risk to surrounding property. In locations where pulling sheet piles could create ground movement near slabs, buildings, or existing utilities, the team coordinated with Jefferson Parish to leave selected sheets permanently in place and modify the excavation and bracing approach.
When complete, the larger culvert will increase drainage capacity through Elmwood and help move stormwater toward the Pump to the River system more efficiently.
The lasting story of Mounes is already visible in how the work is being delivered: deep excavation, active drainage, major utilities, heavy commercial traffic, and limited space managed as one connected construction operation. RNGD is building critical infrastructure beneath Elmwood while keeping Elmwood moving.
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