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The district charged with overseeing the construction of a massive set of gates across the mouth of Galveston Bay — known as the “Ike Dike” — announced this week that it has approved contracts with two global engineering firms to design the gates and a double set of dunes on either side of them.
Jacobs will design the gates and HDR will design the dunes and beach restoration. No dollar amount has been agreed on for the early design work, which will be done through “specific task orders” to follow, said a spokesperson for the Gulf Coast Protection District.
The idea for the “Ike Dike” goes all the way back to 2008 when Hurricane Ike wrought devastating damage to Bolivar Peninsula after a deadly storm surge estimated between 15 and 20 feet tore through homes. A Texas A&M professor began imagining a barrier to protect Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island better.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Texas General Land Office spent years studying the idea, formally called the Coastal Texas Project, which grew to include numerous components but centered on an elaborate system of various types of gates stretching over the water. The gates would normally stay open to allow for vessels to pass into the Houston Ship Channel, and close only when a hurricane or major storm approached.
Texas has appropriated $950 million for the Gulf Coast Protection District to use for the Coastal Texas Project and other work, according to the district spokesperson. It was not immediately clear how much of that was available to be spent on the barrier design.
The costly project continues to await significant state and federal funding. Congress and President Joe Biden signed off on plans for the concept in 2022, when the estimated cost was nearly $35 billion. The federal government has only appropriated $500,000 so far for a small component, far short of its $21 billion portion of the bill.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also said in 2023 that the total project cost could actually be much higher — up to $57 billion — because of inflation and other rising prices. And even with funding in place, the Corps has said that pre-construction design and engineering could take two to five years, and building it could take 10 to 15 more years on top of that.
“This is a small step in a very big and long and expensive overall process but it is a step forward,” said Bob Stokes, president of the Galveston Bay Foundation, which has been awaiting a more detailed design to understand better what the environmental impacts of the project will be.
Supporters say the project is an overdue step to protect a vulnerable region lined with industrial plants and a large population at risk of hurricanes that climate scientists say are now more likely to be stronger.
“We’ve seen what hurricanes can do, and the cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of protection,” the district spokesperson wrote.
Still, environmental advocacy groups for years have expressed significant concerns about how a giant barrier built across an important ecosystem could harm birds, turtles, fish and other species by restricting the flow of water in and out of the bay and damaging or destroying habitat.
“The Ike Dike’s immense costs and delayed timeline have left … communities along the coast without much-needed storm protection,” Kristen Schlemmer, senior legal director and waterkeeper for Bayou City Waterkeeper, said in a statement.
“Instead of throwing more time and money into the Ike Dike, [the Gulf Coast Protection District] should redirect their energy toward an approach that favors smaller-scale protections that can be implemented on a faster timeline,” she added. “With this approach, Texas communities and ecosystems would both win, and the GCPD will have accomplished the difficult task of making us all safer before the next big storm.”
Disclosure: The Texas General Land Office has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.