VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – News 6 is diving into a brand-new project that aims to protect Florida’s coast from storms.
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is working to install buried seawalls along A1A in Ormond-by-the-Sea and Flagler Beach. This project hopes to prevent hurricanes from washing away the dunes and the road.
Crews are currently placing the two, mile-and-a-half-long buried seawalls. FDOT’s crews believe this will be their most resilient project yet to protect A1A and the barrier island.
“A1A is going to be with the highest level of protection it’s ever had,” said Ron Meade, FDOT district maintenance engineer. “This is one of our more challenging roads, as you can imagine, being this close to the ocean. Over the years, we’ve had a lot of experiences with keeping it together.”
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A1A has faced significant damage from past hurricanes and even smaller storms, which have washed out the dunes and the road multiple times. Now, FDOT believes this new system will give residents peace of mind.
The process begins with drilling and filling in a concrete seawall reinforced with fiberglass.
“We use that instead of steel rebar because the conditions out here are more susceptible to corrosion,” said Kevin Hayden, an operations construction engineer with FDOT.
After the seawall is in place, the state covers it with sand.
This project is part of a larger effort, with the state spending about $117 million to install two of these walls.
“The final steps are to plant native dune plant species on the dune and rebuild the walkovers,” Hayden explained.
How does FDOT know this will work? They’ve done it before. There is already a smaller buried seawall that was installed just north of Flagler Beach back in 2019.
If a storm hits, the sand and dunes in front of the wall will absorb the impact first. The walls have been tested in Category 3 storms and engineers are confident they can withstand even stronger storms.
“If we were to lose some of the dune during an event, the department will come back and restore the dune,” said Christine Barone, an operations engineer with FDOT.
The Flagler Beach wall is just about done and the state expects this portion of the project in Ormond-by-the-Sea to be completed soon.