Coastal and Hydraulics News
Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory
U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center
Vicksburg, Mississippi USA 39180-6199
Vol CHL-01-1
May 2001
Overview of the National Shoreline Erosion Control
Demonstration Program
William R. Curtis1
Introduction
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
protection approaches may be
1981).
installed through the sponsorship of
The National Shoreline Erosion
others (e.g., a site where another
Objectives of Section 227 are to
Control Development and Demon-
Federal or non-Federal organization
assess and advance the state of the
stration Program of the U.S. Army
has implemented an approach which
art of shoreline erosion control tech-
Corps of Engineers was established
shows engineering promise, but is
nology, encourage the development
by Section 227 of the U.S. Water
not planning to extensively monitor
of innovative solutions to the shore-
Resources and Development Act
or document project performance).
line erosion control challenge, and
(WRDA) of 1996 with initial funding
At the third tier of investigation, the
communicate findings to the public.
appropriated in FY00. Section 227 is
program will sponsor the develop-
Through an extensive technical
authorized as a 6-year research and
ment of a database that documents
transfer effort, the research and
development effort that provides a
installations and case example
development program will provide a
means by which the Corps can
reports.
means for furthering the use of
evaluate the functional performance
well-engineered alternative
of innovative or nontraditional
approaches to shoreline erosion
Project Criteria
approaches for abating coastal
control. Emphasis will be placed on
erosion and improving shoreline
the evaluation of technologies from
sediment retention at prototype-
The Section 227 authorization
both functional and structural per-
scale. A variety of shore protection
states that a minimum of seven
spectives, and will include
devices and methods will be con-
demonstration projects will be con-
bioengineered approaches.
structed, monitored, and evaluated
structed on various coastlines
at sites that represent varying
The program has three tiers of
around the nation: two on the Atlan-
energy conditions and shoreline
investigation. At the highest level of
tic coast, one on the Gulf coast, two
morphologies. This program builds
participation, Section 227 will con-
on the Pacific coast, and two on the
upon the experience and lessons of
tribute funding for design, construc-
Great Lakes. Project locations must
the "Low Cost Shore Protection
tion, and evaluation of a demonstra-
be experiencing shoreline erosion at
Demonstration Program (Section
tion project. There will be a mini-
a manageable rate, and have suffi-
54)" of the 1970s. The Section 54
mum of seven sites. In addition to
cient shoreline length to demon-
Program, authorized by WRDA
constructed demonstration sites, the
strate the functional performance of
1974, focused on testing technolo-
program will also take advantage of
the technology selected for testing at
gies for survivability in low-wave
"targets-of-opportunity" to monitor
that site. Additionally, sites must
energy environments (Headquarters,
sites where innovative shore
have suitable baseline control data
Research Oceanographer, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory,
1
3909 Halls Ferry Road, Vicksburg, MS
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