Designing, Permitting, and Constructing Resilient Structures

The damage caused by Hurricane Katrina and the Tohoku tsunami caused local and federal agencies to consider more robust structures that provide improved protection to coastal communities from severe storm conditions. This paper addresses the design, permitting, and construction considerations of two coastal projects that include: a hurricane storm surge barrier and a tsunami resistant marina. A key portion for these projects required defining the environmental conditions, determining limiting characteristics, strengthening design elements, incorporating permit restrictions, and overcoming construction challenges. Working collaboratively with regulators and contractors, these coastal protection structures were constructed to provide improved protection for their respective waterfront communities. This paper discusses the damage from severe events, the design approach, the regulatory, and permitting restrictions, improve the recovery time for future storm or tsunami damage and lessons learned for future storm events.