He’s not really a bouncer, but when he asks people to leave, they do. Quickly.

If you plan to visit New Orleans and expect to take a sightseeing trip to the 17th Street Canal, you may have the pleasure of meeting Eddie Webb, project site manager for Weston Solutions, Inc. of West Chester, Pa.

The meeting will be brief, as he escorts you from the site.

It’s a construction site, not a scenic overlook at an amusement park. That’s a fact the general public and local tour companies have finally caught on to. “We still get several tour buses daily, but they usually just drive by,” Webb says. “They know better than to try to walk out on the bridge.”

I met Webb Monday, when ENR editor Tom Sawyer and I did just that. Webb was Johnny-on-the-spot to remove us. Once he realized we had already been pre-approved to take video footage for ENR.com, and after he restricted us to the perimeter of the site so we wouldn’t interfere with work or put ourselves in harm’s way, Webb took the opportunity to give us a little background on Weston’s and his part in the project that he referred to as an “engineering marvel.”

Weston’s management contract at the 17th Street Canal includes construction of new platforms and installation of 25 pumps. Webb came to New Orleans at the end of February and delivered the additional 14, 42-inch-diameter pumps that provide the additional 1,600 cfs capacity promised by the Corps for June 1. “That’s the first deadline in 20 months the Corps has made good on,” Webb says. “May 2 the first of the pumps hadn’t even arrived. By May 30 they all had been accepted and tested by the government.”

It’s a good feeling to be part of the team that fulfilled such an important promise, says Webb, who gives credit to Weston’s two subcontractors – Dynamic Industries, Inc. of New Iberia, La., performing installation of the pumps and Boh Bros. Construction of New Orleans, handling the civil, concrete and dredging. “They are the ones that really do all the work,” Webb says. “We’re just management. I don’t lose sight of the guys who make me feel good.”

Now Weston is charged with completing construction of another platform by July 8, installing an additional 11 pumps by August 5 and ensuring those pumps are operational by August 15.

“Weston hand-picked the best of the best to be out here because it’s such a high profile project with so many technical challenges,” Webb says. Before coming to New Orleans, Webb worked on Beale Air Force Base in northern California on a hydro fuel project. In many ways, the 17th Street Canal project is like many other projects Webb has been a part of. “It’s still piping, pumps and welding,” he says. “I’m a CWI (certified welding inspector), and they wanted someone with experience in welding because there is such a massive amount of pipe here. I’ve built piers for the Navy (lots of piles, marine work) so it’s a natural fit for me to be here.”

In addition to the curious public, top military brass, politicians, reporters, photographers and film makers from all over the world frequent the site on a routine basis. And then there is the web cam, recording it all 24 hours a day. “Everyone is watching,” Webb says. “There is no room for error.”