Storm Damage Reduction Project Design for Wallops Island, Virginia, Version 1.01
Abstract
Wallops Island, a barrier island on Virginia's eastern shore, is home to NASA rocket launch facilities, along with significant U.S. Navy and regional infrastructure. A succession of beach protection measures have had limited success in mitigating the island's chronic shoreline erosion problem, which has now reached a critical state. This report describes the modeling effort and technical details that have gone into the development of a comprehensive storm damage reduction project for the island that does not negatively impacting adjacent shorelines. The plan incorporates a tiered approach with a beach fill as the first line of defense, reducing storm damage for up to 30 year return interval events. The fill, combined with a rehabilitated and extended rock seawall, increases the level of protection to include up to approximately 100 year return interval storm events. Flood protection is provided on a structure-by-structure basis. Alternatives examined in detail included a plan with a terminal groin and one with a detached breakwater, although the recommended alternative includes no sand retention structure. Sand volumes needed for initial and renourishment fills are presented. The shoreline impacts from mining offshore borrow sites and from extending the rock seawall are also examined.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA552352
Entities
People
- David B. King Jr.
- Donald L. Ward
- Greggory G. Williams
- Mark H. Hudgins
Organizations
- Engineer Research and Development Center