PASS CHRISTIAN, MS (WLOX) -
A plan will be discussed at this morning's Harrison County Supervisors meeting to lower a section of the county's beachfront. The idea is to see whether less sand, and more seawall steps will prevent blowing sand from spilling onto Highway 90.
The engineering firm Brown, Mitchell and Alexander came up with this proposal, and shared it with Harrison County Sand Beach director Chuck Loftis. "We're just going to lower the template as much as we can, with the Corps of Engineers grace," said Loftis. The Army Corps of Engineers must approve any work done on the beach.
The proposed testing area is between Espy Avenue and Menge Avenue in Pass Christian. The county chose that location because there's not a lot of beach activity there.
By pushing sand away from the seawall, and revealing between four and six seawall steps, engineers believe the concrete barrier will catch blowing sand before it spills out onto the highway. "It's a constant problem," said Loftis.
Ultimately, the county's sand beach director believes beach plants are the best remedy to the blowing sand problem. "Dune vegetation is our best scenario," Loftis told WLOX.com. But, Loftis isn't sure who will pay to replace the plants and dunes lost during Hurricane Isaac.
So, for now, he said the lower template experiment is a great starting place to see what can be done to keep sand on the beach, and off Highway 90 and its medians.
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