Over Twenty-Five Years of Applied Coastal Engineering in Alaska

Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Coastal Engineering Section has developed numerous innovative designs for Alaska's arctic conditions and exposed shorelines. Case studies of ten challenging projects designed and constructed over the past 25 years will be presented; including a heliport at Little Diomede; buried cutoff wall for an airport at Gambell; 10 miles of shore protection for Seward Highway exposed to tidal bores and ice; energy absorbing pile guides for extreme wave conditions; and a dynamically stable beach at Unalakleet. Due to increasingly high costs for large armor, recent projects have relied more heavily on dynamic stability and softer designs. Most of these projects were constructed in remote areas of Alaska with little data available. Each case study will discuss challenges, technical design elements, and specific arctic coastal considerations. Designing in concert with site-specific conditions allows structures to survive and natural coastal processes to continue.