Flood control the Metro Area, resulting in the inundation of approximately 50 percent of the metropolitan area, ranging from a few inches to twenty feet in coastal communities. The Morganza Spillway provides a method of diverting water from the Mississippi River when a river flood threatens New Orleans, Baton Rouge and other major cities on the lower Mississippi. It is the largest of a system of spillways and floodways along the Mississippi. Completed in 1954, the spillway has been opened twice, in 1973 and in 2011. In an act of successful flood prevention, the federal government offered to buy out flood-prone properties
Maryland Route 242 in 1923. The state highway was reconstructed with curve modifications and a bituminous-stabilized gravel surface in the 1950s, beginning with the Morganza–Clements section in 1949 and 1950. MD 242 was rebuilt from Clements to Bushwood by 1959. Maryland Route 242 Maryland Route 242 (MD 242) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Colton Point Road, the state highway runs from Coltons Point north to MD 5 in Morganza. MD 242 connects the communities of Morganza, Clements, Bushwood, Avenue, and Coltons Point in western St. Mary's County. The state highway also leads to St. Clement's Island