Tybee Island, GA Storm Damage

PROJECT NAME AND STATE:  Tybee Island, GA Storm Damage

AUTHORIZATION:  The Tybee Island Shore Protection Project, City of Tybee Island, Chatham County, Georgia, HIM Sup was authorized in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (Public Law (PL) 115-123), Division B, Subdivision 1, Title IV.  PL 115-123 provides construction funding to address emergency situations at Corps of Engineers (Corps) projects, and to construct, and to rehabilitate and repair damages caused by natural disasters to Corps projects. 

SUMMARIZED FINANCIAL DATA

Construction

Estimated Federal Cost

$13,000,000

Estimated Non-Federal Cost

$0

Total Estimated Cost

$13,000,000

 

 

Allocation thru FY 2020

$13,000,000

Allocation for FY 2021

$0

Programmed Balance to Complete After FY 2021

$0

 

LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION:  Flood Risk Management.  Tybee Island is a 3.5-mile long barrier island, located 18 miles east of the City of Savannah at the mouth of the Savannah River on the Atlantic Ocean.  The mostly developed island is bordered on the north by the South Channel of the Savannah River, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south and west by the Back River and other tidal creeks.  Tybee has an average width of 0.5 miles and the ground elevation varies from 10 to 18 feet above mean low water (MLW) and slopes westward to the salt marshes.  The City of Tybee Island, Georgia, is the non-Federal Sponsor for Construction and responsible for long-term maintenance.  The Section 934 Report, approved by the ASA (CW) in 1998, provides for future periodic nourishments, estimated to be every 7 years until the end of the 50-year project life in 2024.  The completion of the most recent renourishment was projected to be the last scheduled renourishment before Federal participation expires in 2024.  However, Hurricane Matthew caused significant beach erosion in October 2016. CG Supplemental funds were issued is FY17 for design and replacement of losses and the contract was completed in April 2018. Subsequently, since 2016 Hurricane Irma and other storms have increased erosion within the Federal project requiring replacement to complete the Federal participation period.

SCHEDULED FOR FY2020:  The project was renourished to the full federal template with all work completed on 7 February 2020.  Remaining scheduled activities are as follows; revise the Engineering Documentation Report and continue environmental monitoring.  

SCHEDULED FOR FY2021  NA

ISSUES AND OTHER INFORMATION

Under the Public Bipartisan Budget Act 2018 (Public Law 115-123) construction of the authorized plan for a full template renourishment including adding resiliency features was authorized with 100% federal funding.  Completion of this work requires an expansion of the existing borrow area.  Work within the federal project is constrained by an environmental window from 1 November to 30 April.

 

An Engineering Documentation Report (EDR) will be utilized to document the resiliency feature and upon the EDR’s approval the resiliency feature will be incorporated into the Federal project.

 

The construction of the design template in 2015 was at the approved cost share of 60.7% Federal and 39.3% non-Federal.  The typical renourishment cycle for the project was on a 7-year cycle however, the 2015 renourishment included advanced renourishment making it a 9-year renourishment to provide enough material to last to end of federal participation in 2024.  A separate Feasibility-level study was authorized to evaluate the adverse impacts to the shores of Tybee Island, Georgia from the Savannah Harbor Federal Navigation Project.  The Channel Impact Technical Report concluded that the estimated combined shelf and shoreline impact at Tybee Island is 73.6%, which represents the reduction in sand volume on the Tybee shelf and shoreline due to the navigation project with the remainder of the erosion attributed to the natural processes. 

MILESTONES:

Award Contract

 

15 October 2019

Begin Construction

 

14 Nov 2019

Construction Complete

 

 7 Feb 2020

 

ADMINISTRATION POSITION:  This project is consistent with Administration policy.

 

ACTION OFFICER:  Margarett (Mackie) McIntosh                                  25 March 2020
                                   CESAS/912-652-5320