Charleston district receives supplemental funding for storm risk management projects
July 17, 2018
Yesterday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District received supplemental funding for disaster recovery projects on Folly Beach, Myrtle Beach, Edisto Beach, Pawleys Island, Charleston Harbor and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.
The Charleston District has already received and used $29 million of this funding for short-term repairs in its award of a $34.8 million project for the rehabilitation of the Myrtle Beach Coastal Storm Risk Management project, which beings in August and will place approximately 1.4 million cubic yards of beach fill on the shorelines of North Myrtle, Myrtle, Garden City and Surfside Beaches. The Folly Beach CSRM is also listed for receipt of supplemental funds, pending approval of an addendum to the previous Project Information Report.
Pawleys Island and Edisto Beach were also listed on the construction funding decision. These two projects have been previously authorized as federal projects, but have not previously been appropriated funding for construction.
Charleston Harbor and the AIWW will both received Operation and Maintenance funding under the supplemental in order to address impacts from recent hurricanes. The funding for Charleston Harbor will replace sand lost around the landward terminus of the southern jetty on Morris Island and will also provide some long term maintenance of the rock structure in the same location. The funding for the AIWW will provide for the removal of material that was deposited in the channel as a result of the storms.
Additionally, two new feasibility studies for the Charleston District are funded in the investigations account listing. The Folly Beach General Reevaluation Report willexamine alternative measures to continue to deliver the coastal storm risk management benefits. The Charleston Peninsula study will evaluate possible actions intended to provide long-term risk reduction from flooding on the city’s peninsula. Both of these studies are envisioned to cost no more than $3 million and take no longer than three years from the time they commence.
“We’re very excited about receiving supplemental funding made available after the recent hurricane damage,” said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Palazzini, district commander. “We already have a couple of these projects underway and we are eager to start the new projects and studies that we’ve never done before. These projects and studies will have great implications for the entire state of South Carolina.”
These South Carolina projects are part of the additional work that USACE Headquarters announced as plans to accomplish with the funding provided for disaster recovery in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, signed into law February 9, 2018. Approximately $17.398 billion was provided for disaster recovery across the country. The funds provided will attend to both long-term and short-term disaster recovery projects.
