The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Jacksonville District has announced the award of a Sediment Morphodynamic Assessment Project (SMAP) contract that will examine sediment transport in southeast Florida over the next two years.
The project monitoring and modeling will support the Corps’ navigation and coastal flood risk management missions from Palm Beach to Miami-Dade County.
The District awarded the $4.4 million services contract to Environmental Tracing, LLC, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., to perform analysis and forecasting of sediment transport in southeast Florida inlets, beaches, and nearshore coastal waters.
The project will directly support the Corps’ missions by identifying solutions for long term sediment management and resiliency in southeast Florida coastal communities, said USACE.
“In addition to knowing where and how sediment is moving naturally, the project will help us develop a more thorough understanding of sediment movement during – or as a result of – dredging, and optimal channel features and beach placement design ,” said Drew Condon, the project’s coastal engineer.
The project will include in-water measurements of sediment transport, waves and currents, numerical modeling, and sediment tracing, in order to analyze the hydrodynamic, sediment transport, and morphology change scenarios across the region.
“Gaining a better understanding of the background environment and natural sediment movement will help us optimize our project designs and ensure we are also protecting nearshore and offshore hardbottom habitats, ” Project Manager Laurel Reichold concluded.