Angelle Bergeron Storm gate and bypass construction at the mouth of New Orlean's 17th Street Canal. The Corps says the 17th Street Canal's levees and flood walls are strong enough to handle a stormwater load, but other city outfall canals are not as robust.

Construction industry leaders are gathering in New Orleans this week to brainstorm about national workforce shortage challenges. They will also take a hard look at some of the flood-ravaged areas during briefings on engineering challenges still facing the city.

Two hundred industry executives have signed on for an inspection tour June 5 that will visit critical nodes in the flood defenses system. Experts engaged in their management or construction will deliver updates. The group will also travel many miles through struggling neighborhoods including Lakeview, Gentilly, East Orleans and the Lower 9th Ward -- names engraved in the national consciousness by Hurricane Katrina's devastation. They will see floodwall and levee repairs, temporary storm gates and massive pumping installations built since the storm, but they will also see areas that remain vulnerable to disastrous floods.

Engineering News-Record and the Construction Users Round Table, co-sponsors of the workforce issues forum, developed the inspection tour. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans added cooperation and support.

Slideshow: Response to Katrina Tour Materials: Map (6.55 MB) USACE Fact Sheets : 17 St. Outfall (229 KB) Orleans Outfall (320 KB) London Ave. Outfall (276 KB) IHNC (320 KB)

Guides include retired U.S. Army Col. Duane Gapinski, the Corps officer charged with getting the flood waters out of New Orleans in September, 2005. Gapinski is now a civilian program manager with HDR Inc., Omaha, Neb. assigned as senior program management consultant to Task Force Hope, a Corps group working to beef up New Orleans flood protections.

Another guide is Robert S. Boh, president of locally-based Boh Bros Construction, whose workers pulled themselves and their equipment from the flood, as first responders. In the days, months and years since the storm, Boh Brothers workers have plugged breaches, built gates and replaced vital bridges.

Also providing expert commentary is Lt. Col Murray Starkel, Deputy Commander of the Corps's New Orleans District, a key member of Corps District Commander Col. Richard Wagenaar's cadre since the Katrina cleanup started. The Corps is expected to havesev ral other subject matter experts on hand for the event.

Site-specific experts include Joe Sullivan, general superintendent of the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans, and Hal Blakemore, Design Build Manager with Weston Solutions. The West Chester, Pa.-based consultant is installing massive collections of high-volume pumps for the Corps at temporary flood gates on outfall canals.

ENR editorial staffers, including New Orleans correspondent Angelle Bergeron and associate editor Tom Sawyer, will also participate as commentators. Bergeron and Sawyer have coordinated much of ENR's extensive and continuing on-the-scene coverage of the storm damage and its aftermath.

Information about the construction business forum is available at http://www.construction.com/event/constructionbusinessforum/agenda.asp