Galveston Island and its beaches are a popular tourist destination for visitors from Texas as well as the entire United States. The beaches also serve as a natural buffer for protecting the City of Galveston from hurricanes. In recent years, the beach along the Galveston seawall has been significantly reduced due to interruptions in natural sediment transport combined with ongoing storm activity. To address ongoing erosion, the Galveston Park Board and Texas General Land Office engaged us to design a beach nourishment project that placed over 1 million cubic yards of sand that was hydraulically dredged from the South Jetty Sand Source located within Bolivar Roads, the inlet separating Galveston Island from Bolivar Peninsula. The sand was transported via pipeline to the discharge area, where it was then graded to a design template.

The project was completed in March 2017 at a cost of approximately $18,670,000, providing nourished beach along nearly 4 miles of shoreline. This project complements other recently completed nourishments in Galveston, including the “Babes Beach” project to the west of 61st Street and the Seascape/Dellanera project at the west end of the seawall. These projects reflect a strong commitment by community leaders and the GLO to maintain this important asset for Galveston.