Tag Archives: Soft structures

Recommended Reading

Montauk Faces Its Long-Term Future

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Below excerpts are from a December 17th editorial in Newsday. The full article is available here.

“Every year, it seems, the ocean washes away the sand covering the bags [installed as part of an artificial dune by the Army Corps of Engineers] and narrows the [Montauk] beach that brings the tourists who fuel the area’s economy…

“…The town is pursuing a plan to move downtown oceanfront businesses inland and let the abandoned grounds serve as the kind of natural dune that has always been the best barrier…

“Montauk is a lesson for all of Long Island. We can keep paying for short-term solutions doomed to failure, or make tough decisions that offer the best chance for long-term survival.”

The full article is available here.

Recommended Reading

Save the Structures, But Lose the Beach

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In a recent article (click here to read), the East Hampton Star lambasted a highly contentious project planned by the Army Corps of Engineers to save ten beachfront properties in Montauk.

According to the article, the Corps is getting ready to install a 3,100-foot-long barrier of sand bags, which “would function as short-lived seawalls, resulting in the near-certain total loss of a passable beach.”

The $9 million project is a perfect example of the negative consequences we face when using engineering “solutions” to protect structures.

“The notion that someday money would be forthcoming to pump sand in from offshore is little more than fanciful thinking; it cannot be the cornerstone of real-world policy.”

Click here to read the entire article.