The September/October issue of GEOSTRATA Magazine, the official publication of the Geo-Institute, includes a feature by Principal Geotechnical Engineer Dave Eley. The feature focuses on the evolving approach to coastal protection and restoration along the Gulf Coast through the lens of the award-winning Whiskey Island coastal restoration project for Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA). Leadership from CPRA and consulting firms like GeoEngineers is helping to push the industry toward more sustainable tactics inspired by a broader understanding of offshore sediment transport and erosion.
Like many critical barrier islands, Whiskey Island was slowly disappearing into the Gulf of Mexico. GeoEngineers worked with teaming partners and the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) to design Louisiana’s largest volumetric restoration project ever and restore the island. In total, the project team dredged, transported and carefully placed more than 10 million cubic yards of dredged sand on Whiskey Island—enough to fill the New Orleans Super Dome twice. All that sand built 600 acres of new beach, dune and marsh habitat that will protect the communities and human infrastructure along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast from storm impacts for decades to come. Jump over to the GEOSTRATA website to read the whole feature and check out the rest of this special issue on sustainability and climate adaption.
