This site is under construction) Development Page--Not for Official Use

University Beach: History

University Beach, located adjacent to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi along the northern shoreline of Ward Island, was selected as the prototype for the development of CHRGIS because of the extensive data set available for this location.

Ward Island Beach in 1938

Prior to construction, the shoreline was completely devoid of a beach and consisted of a deteriorating timber bulkhead as well as discarded concrete and construction materials.

The restored beach, a beach fill consisting of 45,000 cu yd of beach-quality quarry sand, was placed to restore a 1,200 ft section of beach that had eroded some 60 years ago.

Photograph taken August 2001 (Lanmon Aerial Inc.)

The public recreational beach was completed in August 2001 after 5 months of construction and nearly 7 years of research and planning. The project was made possible through the cooperation and support of The Texas General Land Office (Coastal Management Program and Coastal Erosion Planning and Response Act), Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, The Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science, the City of Corpus Christi and Shiner Moseley and Associates as the lead engineers.

The evolution of this restored beach was monitored to determine trends in shoreline change, sub-aerial and nearshore morphology, volumetric change, and sand grain size distribution. The monitoring program was initiated to document these changes in an effort to more effectively manage this restored resource. Of particular interest is to determine how to effectively manage changes in sand distribution in the system (system being defined in this case as the region confined by the coastal structures). To put this another way, management may be defined as where to place more sand, how much to place, when to place it and where to obtain it.

<< University Beach: GIS Interface Prototype (Prototype for Site Development) | EducationalOutline | Ward Island Beach in 1938 >>