Proposed Texas Coast Hurricane Barrier
A preliminary design of the Coastal Spine Barrier – a $30 billion project – has been approved. This hurricane barrier and storm suppression system would run along the Texas coast from Galveston to Corpus Christi, and could ultimately impact all of the United States. Aiding in protecting infrastructure along the Gulf Coast as well as improving supply chain delays during harsh storms, this would be the largest civil works project ever taken on by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.
Dr. Kelly Burkes-Copes with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers remarks that “The idea and intent is to combine a series of gated structures – kind of what we consider gray infrastructure, you may think of it as concrete and water – with natural and nature-based solutions like beaches and dunes and wetlands, to basically improve the resilience of the entire Texas coast.”
