The Corps of Engineers and shore protection: History, projects, costs (2003)

Theodore M Hillyer, The Corps of Engineers and shore protection: History, projects, costs (2003)

Excellent history of the laws and projects to 2003.

This report is prepared as a product of the National Shoreline Management Study (NSMS). The NSMS was authorized by Section 215(c) of the Water Resources Development Act of 1999. The inspiration for the portion of this reprt on the history of the Corps shore protection program stems from effort undertaken on an earlier Institute for Water Resource report: “Shoreline Protection and Beach Erosion Control Study, Final Report: An Analysis of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Shore Protection Program,” IWR Report 96-PS-1, June 1996. That study was undertaken in response to a directive from the Office of Management and Budget. One aspect of the 1996 report touched on the development of the Federal interest in shore protection and how that interest was influenced by tropical storms. This report expands that portion of the 1996 report by providing more detail on all aspects of the development of the shoreline protection program; storm events, laws, executive directives, significant milestones in coastal management and finally approaches and projects.

As the history portion of the report was under preparation, the Director of Civil Works sent out a data call to update certain portions of the 1996 report by developing a current list of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shoreline protection studies and projects and the cost of completed projects. The results of this data call are incorporated in this report by providing the current list of the Corps major coastline protection studies and projects, actual construction costs of the program and those actual construction costs adjusted to September 2002 prices.