PEEC, a team of experts, designed and constructed a marsh creation project in Galveston Bay that covers 230 acres. The project involves creating 47 half-acre mounds of dredged material, planting vegetation on them, and protecting them with breakwaters made of geotubes. Galveston Bay experiences high wave action every day, and in 2008 Hurricane Gustav sent a tidal surge through the area. However, PEEC’s project remained intact despite the storm, unlike adjacent, unprotected marsh areas that were destroyed.
PEEC also undertook a project to restore 100 acres of marsh in Bessie Heights, an open water area south of Port Arthur, Texas. The area was once the site of healthy wetlands. The project involved using dredged material arranged in terraces, and it was completed in 2002. The project remains structurally sound, despite the wave action created by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike. PEEC expects that the project will eventually build more than 200 acres of wetlands.
PEEC designed a four-mile-long breakwater system for Grand Isle with a special overlapping design that allows tidal fluctuations to pass through. The breakwaters protect the island from storm surges while helping reduce erosion. The project was built in 1998 and is functioning as designed despite numerous hits from severe hurricanes.
