Emulating Nature by Building an Island Style Breakwater for the Fort Pierce Marina

The City of Fort Pierce proposes to build a storm protection system to protect its 269 slip marina and public waterfront areas. The City's downtown area is focused toward the marina and the picturesque waters of the Indian River Lagoon. To preserve the attractive features of its waterfront and improve its ecological value, the City desired a natural type of protective system consisting of multiple islands with significant environmental enhancements including mangrove and dune plantings and artificial reef areas. The paper will outline the conditions that led to the destruction of the marina as well as the FEMA public assistance programs that made enhanced marina protection possible. The paper will discuss the development of the coastal structure components of the project including the theory of the artificial island design, the planning of the Tee-groins and pocket beaches and the rock archipelago. The paper will review the numerical modeling of current patterns, and projected wave transmission. The verification of the design using three dimensional physical modeling of the breakwaters under both wave and current conditions is provided, supplemented by large scale flume testing of armor and beach stability and erosion assessments of the island dune barriers. This paper finally discusses sovereign submerged lands issues and the change in the permitting climate that allowed this environmentally friendly protection concept to be approved.