Tetra Tech Wins ASCE’s COPRI Project Excellence Award for Best Large Project
The American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) Coasts, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute (COPRI) has recognized Tetra Tech’s work on the Florida’s Fort Pierce City Marina as the top large project of the year.
When Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne destroyed the Fort Pierce City Marina on Florida’s east coast in 2004, the city turned to Tetra Tech to help them build back better.
Tetra Tech helped create a stronger, more resilient design for the marina’s reconstruction. Our team developed a wave- and current-protection system that includes an artificial island complex to serve as a first-line breakwater that incorporates mangrove plantings, tidal lagoon features, and artificial reefs that improve the structural stability and functional performance of the system.
Tetra Tech worked closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to win design approval and funding under its hazard damage mitigation program. Tetra Tech also coordinated closely with federal and state regulatory and resource agencies, completed the design, and coordinated reconstruction and expansion permitting efforts. The project also beneficially reused more than 150,000 cubic yards of sand from three separate dredging projects to provide significant construction material cost savings.
The City of Fort Pierce celebrated the completion of the overall project in a gala grand opening celebration in May 2015. Space at the marina filled rapidly due to a large waiting list of boaters anxious to gain berths at this well-located and now well-protected marina.
The project also received praise from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service representative Alexis Meyer, who said, “I was very impressed by the breakwater habitat islands. I've never seen a proposal with such a well-designed net environmental benefit before; you really did a great job.”
We congratulate our team and the City of Fort Pierce on this well-deserved recognition.