Horseshoe Bend Island Islands
Lower Atchafalaya River, Louisiana, United States
This project, Horseshoe Bend Island—an island self-designed by the strategic placement of sediment on the Atchafalaya River—is an excellent example of using natural systems and processes to engineer with nature. In 1999, placement site capacity for shoal material dredged from Horseshoe Bend had reached its upper limits. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) New Orleans District (MVN), seeking to meet the anticipated disposal requirements for future channel maintenance, evaluated three possible solutions. The third alternative was selected: using the dredged material to enhance the creation of an island and wetlands. In 2002, MVN, Weeks Marine, Inc., Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, and Mike Hooks, Incorporated, began placing dredged sediment upriver, allowing the river’s energy to disperse the sediment; quantification of benefits associated with the effort began in 2012 by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center and MVN. The project resulted in numerous engineering and environmental benefits, including a reduced need for dredging and increased habitat for a variety of species. This project won the 2015 Western Dredging Association Gold Environmental Excellence Award, the 2017 Western Dredging Association Adaptation to Climate Change Award, and the 2017 Dredging and Port Construction Innovation Award. The project was also certified in 2017 as a World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure (PIANC) “Working with Nature” project.
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