The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Coastal Inlets Research Program

Federal agencies are being required to do more with less. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must maintain existing federal inlet and entrance channels and respond to authorizations for channel deepening and new channels with a budget that does not increase commensurately. The answer to serving the Nation's needs in an era of declining resources is to advance understanding of inlet processes and incorporate this knowledge in operation and maintenance practices of navigation projects. The Coastal Inlets Research Program was established 5 years ago with the mission of advancing knowledge and developing predictive technology to reduce the cost of dredging, promote navigation channel reliability, and understand the sediment-sharing interactions between inlets and adjacent beaches. This paper describes this productive research program and introduces selected results.