Galveston Island, Texas, Sand Management Strategies

A study was conducted by the Engineer Research and Development Center and the U.S. Army District, Galveston to support a sand management plan for the Galveston Park Board of Trustees. The long-term management plan encompasses not only Park Board managed areas, but the entire shoreline of Galveston Island. In the first phase of the project, a sediment budget was redeveloped and GenCade, a numerical model, was calibrated for Galveston Island. After discussing potential solutions and actions with the Galveston Park Board, engineering analyses and numerical modeling were conducted to quantify the performance of each selected alternative. The long-term solution is a wide beach along Galveston Island which is filled through backpassing plants on both ends of the island. This solution will require a large volume of sand for the initial construction, so sand management solutions were identified and offshore sand sources were researched. Shorter-term and smaller scale beach nourishment activities were also provided as options within the strategy.