The $31BN Seawall to Save The Texas Coast

as the old saying goes everything's bigger in Texas cars food hats land you name it the same applies to construction where the new stadium or pizza infrastructure gets announced here you just know it's going to take up loads of space and cost huge amounts of cash now there's another massive project in the works that follows the same formula but this one tackles an issue you might not associate with the Lone Star States America's oil and gas capital is investing billions to protect one of its key regions against a threat that's becoming more severe thanks to climate change that's right with extreme weather now increasingly common and one disaster fresh in the memory Texas is defending its Coastline in the only way it knows how by going big very big [Music] if you still need convincing that Texas has an obsession with size then you only need to visit one of its cities Austin Dallas Houston they're all pretty massive but there's one city here that was once bigger than all of them and there's a chance you've never even heard of it this is Galveston a coastal Resort which became the largest city in Texas during the 19th century why well because it was home to one of America's major ports so a lot of money in trade used to flow right through here as the city and local economy began to prosper it became clear that a new shipping channel between Galveston and nearby Houston was needed that meant a lot of heavy dredging and the construction of two Jetties and a dike to prevent sediment and silt from entering the channel but even when these protective structures were finished in the late 1890s Galveston's position on a long skinny Island left It Wide Open to natural disasters and that's just what happened in 1900s when one of the worst hurricanes in U.S history hit the city came killing thousands although no one around here will remember that particular tragedy Millions won't have forgotten the one that occurred over a century later the sea walls protecting Galveston Island easily breached by surging waves in 2008 Hurricane Ike battered Southeast Texas with Winds of over a hundred miles per hour causing dozens of deaths and almost 30 billion dollars worth of damage with Galveston taking the full force the highest storm surge in almost 100 years was recorded spreading over 15 miles in land with 34 counties declaring disaster areas once the aftermath had died down attention turned to how this sort of catastrophe could be prevented in the future considering the scale of the destruction it would have to be something substantial it needed to be done Texas style so what is this massive product exactly well it's nicknamed the ike Dyke and it's part of a wider scheme to give hundreds of miles of Texas Coastline much better protection in the event of another disaster but it comes at a price costing as much as 31 billion US Dollars around half that figure has been set aside for the dike itself which is much more than just a simple sea wall the plan is to build a gigantic series of gates and barriers as well as man-made beaches and dunes stretching across the whole of Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula at the center of it all is the most challenging part of the projects a storm surge barrier system made up of several huge Gates which will span the near Two Mile Gap at the entrance to Galveston Bay a pair of 200 meter navigation Gates will be installed across three artificial Islands leaving channels in between for ships to pass in and out between these new islands and the shorelines a set of vertical lift gates will also be put in now most of the time these Gates will be left open allowing the bay to operate as normal but in the event of another storm surge or a hurricane they'll all close and form a giant seal against the Gulf of Mexico it's not too dissimilar to the huge pop-up Gates built to protect Venice and if you're from another European country you might think those giant swinging Gates look a bit familiar yes the team from Texas A M University that masterminded it were inspired by the Dutch and their system used to protect Rotterdam in fact the overall plan to build a new Coastal spine for the region is straight out of the Netherlands Playbook as well as the gate system there will be miles of man-made beaches and dunes improvements to the existing sea wall in Galveston and restoration of damaged ecosystems finally to protect the city itself a ring barrier is going to be built this will include flood walls Highway and railroad Gates and a new drainage system with pump stations that'll allow water to be moved from inside the barrier back out into the bay there's a lot to it which is why it's going to take a long time to actually deliver the main gate system alone is expected to take around 18 years to complete a lot of work has already gone in it required a six-year multi-million dollar comprehensive study to come up with the plan that was carried out by the US Army Corps of Engineers in partnership with the Texas General land office which is run by a man called George Bush no not that one we're talking George P bush W's nephew and the current Texas land commissioner the result of the study all sounds very impressive but there are still obstacles to overcome before work can begin architect is just one part of the new Water Resources development acts which is now working its way through the US government and it includes several other projects although approval of the ACT has been given by Congress there are still a few details to be agreed before the legislation is signed off by the president the question of funding for the projects has still not been fully answered either it's predicted that the money will be split in a similar way to other products of this type roughly 65 from federal and the other 35 percent coming from local budgets that would mean the state of Texas coughing up around 10 billion US dollars but that's not expected to be a major issue because this enormous scheme will not just protect the people of Galveston and their properties there are also hundreds of petrochemical facilities in the Houston Galveston area including some of the largest oil refineries in the whole of the US because it would give added security to an area that's of critical economic importance and it has the backing of texts and politicians there's confidence the funds can be raised like Dyke is shaping up to be one of the biggest and most critical of the many big construction projects that the US is set to embark on while you could argue that every scheme being put forward to improve America's infrastructure is important the need for a project like this is obvious when you look at the damage that was done without it 2008 was yet more proof that even the world's richest economy is still vulnerable to the wrath of nature when not properly prepared the hope now is that when the next big storm hits Texas will be ready if you enjoyed this video and you want to learn more 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Channel: Tomorrow's Build

Views: 1,867,709

Keywords: construction, architecture, engineering, Tomorrow's Build, tomorrowsbuild, TomorrowsBuild, tomorrows build, B1M, The B1M, Fred Mills, building, future, ike dike, texas, galveston, houston, storm surges, storm barriers, flood defences, texas coast, texas general land office, us army corps of engineers, galveston island, the netherlands, infrastructure, hurricane ike, natural disasters, climate change, us infrastructure, maeslantkering, seawalls

Id: j13MBvjXQLc

Length: 7min 24sec (444 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 06 2022