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The Louisiana Gulf Coast faces one of the most severe coastal erosion crises in the United States, with profound implications for the region’s transportation infrastructure. In the last century, coastal Louisiana has lost an estimated 4,833 square kilometers (1,866 sq mi) of land, approximately the size of Delaware’s land area. This ongoing environmental disaster threatens critical roads, bridges, ports, and shipping channels that serve not only Louisiana but the entire nation’s economy. Understanding the complex relationship between coastal erosion and transportation infrastructure is essential for developing effective strategies to protect these vital assets and ensure the continued economic viability of the region.
The Scope of Louisiana’s Coastal Erosion Crisis
Louisiana’s barrier shoreline is one of the fastest eroding shorelines in the world. The magnitude of land loss in this region is staggering and unprecedented. The state continues to lose approximately a football field-size of land every 100 minutes along its Gulf Coast. This rapid deterioration has accelerated in recent decades, with some areas experiencing erosion rates that far exceed historical averages.
Shoreline erosion data from BICM indicate that most of Louisiana’s shoreline is eroding faster than ever before with some short-term (1996 – 2005) erosion rates more than double the historic (1890s – 2005) averages. The crisis extends across multiple parishes, with Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes in Southeast Louisiana, with a combined population of 209,136, at great risk of going underwater due to coastal erosion, with estimates suggesting that at the current rate of erosion, 75 square kilometers a year, these areas and their surrounding parishes will be underwater within fifty to eighty years.
Louisiana accounts for 80% of coastal wetland loss in the U.S. due to coastal erosion, subsidence, and other factors. This disproportionate impact on Louisiana reflects the unique geological and environmental conditions of the region, as well as the cumulative effects of human activities over more than a century.
Root Causes of Coastal Erosion in Louisiana
Natural Factors Contributing to Land Loss
The process of coastal erosion in Louisiana is the result of various factors, including sea level rise; ordinary subsidence of organic materials; deprivation of periodic sediment due to flooding prevention measures; tropical cyclones; oil and gas extraction and infrastructure; navigation infrastructure; and saltwater intrusion. These factors work in combination, creating a complex web of causes that accelerate land loss.
Subsidence, or the gradual sinking of land, plays a particularly significant role in Louisiana’s coastal crisis. While land subsidence is dominated by Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA), sediment compression is next factor further compounding the problem. This natural settling process occurs as sediments compact under their own weight and as organic materials decompose, causing the land surface to sink relative to sea level.
The Gulf of Mexico brings heavy rains and hurricanes to this region, which loosens the sediments in the marshes, and along the Mississippi River, allowing them to be carried away by the water. These tropical cyclones not only cause immediate, catastrophic damage but also contribute to long-term erosion patterns by disrupting coastal ecosystems and accelerating the breakdown of protective wetlands.
Human Activities and Infrastructure Development
While natural processes contribute to coastal erosion, human interventions have dramatically accelerated the rate of land loss. Coastal researchers agree that leveeing of the Mississippi River in the early 20th century, which cut off a sediment supply to the coastal plain, was a main cause that led to increasing rates of Louisiana’s coastal plain land loss. The Mississippi River historically deposited sediment across the delta during seasonal floods, building and maintaining coastal wetlands. Modern flood control measures have disrupted this natural cycle.
Man-made levees, which were designed to protect residents and property adjacent to the river, block spring flood water that would otherwise bring fresh water and sediment to marshes. This interruption of natural sediment delivery has starved the coastal wetlands of the material they need to maintain elevation and counteract subsidence.
The oil and gas industry has also played a significant role in coastal degradation. Turner and co-workers early on identified the dredging of access canals to oil and gas drilling and production sites as a cause of land loss by removing marsh, causing salt water intrusion, and altering sedimentation and marsh hydrology. Although most oil and gas extraction has shifted offshore to the outer continental shelf, the construction of channels and pipelines continues in the wetlands, with infrastructure such as canals, pipelines, and other features contributing to wetland loss not only through direct removal of material but also by altering hydrologic flow: salt water may more easily intrude.
Navigation channels and shipping infrastructure have similarly contributed to the problem. These artificial waterways allow saltwater to penetrate deep into freshwater marshes, killing vegetation and accelerating erosion. The cumulative impact of thousands of miles of canals crisscrossing the coastal zone has fundamentally altered the hydrology of the region.
Climate Change and Sea Level Rise
Sea level rise attributed to global warming, though not a root cause, is also considered a contributing factor and future concern. As global temperatures increase and polar ice melts, sea levels continue to rise, exacerbating the effects of subsidence and creating what scientists call “relative sea level rise”—the combined effect of land sinking and water rising.
Sea level rise and the potential for increased hurricane intensity increases coastal erosion, so we can expect erosion to increase over time. Climate models predict that Louisiana will face increasingly severe weather events, including more intense hurricanes and more frequent storm surges, which will further accelerate coastal land loss and threaten transportation infrastructure.
Critical Transportation Infrastructure at Risk
Highways and Roadways
Louisiana’s coastal highways serve as critical lifelines for communities, commerce, and emergency response. As erosion advances, these roadways face increasing vulnerability to flooding, storm surge, and eventual submersion. Louisiana Highway 1 exemplifies the challenges facing coastal transportation infrastructure.
The Louisiana Highway 1 is the only road leading to Port Fourchon and Grand Isle, and while the port sits on a five-foot ridge, much of the LA-1 highway is built on land only two feet in elevation, with the highway growing increasingly vulnerable to sea level rise, subsidence, and storm surge every year. One section of the road is so low that even small storm events cause flooding that makes it impassable.
The vulnerability of Highway 1 has far-reaching implications beyond local transportation. Disruptions to the infrastructure surrounding the port have the potential to impact every American at the gas pump. This single highway serves as the sole access route to one of the nation’s most important energy infrastructure hubs, demonstrating how coastal erosion in Louisiana can have national economic consequences.
Throughout coastal Louisiana, roads that once provided reliable access to communities and economic centers now face regular flooding and require constant maintenance and elevation. The costs of maintaining these roadways continue to escalate as erosion advances and storm events become more frequent and severe.
Bridges and Elevated Structures
Bridges connecting coastal communities face unique challenges from erosion. As the land around bridge approaches erodes, these structures may require costly modifications to maintain safe access. Foundation integrity becomes compromised as surrounding wetlands convert to open water, increasing exposure to wave action and storm surge.
Many bridges in coastal Louisiana were designed and constructed when the surrounding landscape was substantially different from current conditions. As wetlands disappear and water bodies expand, bridges face increased stress from wave action, stronger currents, and more frequent overtopping during storm events. The engineering assumptions that guided their original construction may no longer reflect current or future conditions.
Ports and Maritime Infrastructure
Louisiana’s ports represent critical nodes in national and international commerce. The Port of New Orleans is one of the nation’s busiest shipping hubs, supporting 380,000 jobs and generating $37 billion in economic impact per year. These facilities handle enormous volumes of cargo, including agricultural products, petroleum, chemicals, and manufactured goods.
At the very tip of the coast lies Port Fourchon—one of the country’s major ports serving the deepwater oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico. This facility serves as the primary supply and service base for deepwater oil and gas operations in the Gulf, handling approximately 18% of the nation’s oil supply. The port’s vulnerability to coastal erosion and storm surge poses significant risks to national energy security.
Ports face multiple erosion-related challenges. Shifting shorelines require constant dredging to maintain navigation channels. Storm surge and wave action threaten port facilities, warehouses, and equipment. Access roads and rail lines connecting ports to inland transportation networks become increasingly vulnerable as surrounding wetlands erode.
Rail Infrastructure
Rail lines serving coastal Louisiana transport agricultural products, chemicals, petroleum products, and other commodities. These rail corridors face similar challenges to highways, with erosion undermining roadbeds, compromising bridge foundations, and increasing flood risk. The loss of protective wetlands exposes rail infrastructure to more severe storm impacts, potentially disrupting service for extended periods following major weather events.
Economic Consequences of Transportation Infrastructure Damage
Direct Infrastructure Costs
Over the next 50 years, Louisiana could face up to $3.6 billion in costs to repair and replace infrastructure destroyed by land loss if the state takes no action to curb it. These direct costs include road repairs, bridge replacements, port facility upgrades, and the elevation or relocation of critical transportation assets.
Coastal erosion causes coastal property loss (infrastructure and land/beaches), reduction of wetlands/marshes, and negative impacts to the economy (e.g., transportation infrastructure, business and tourism disruption, decreased property values). The financial burden extends beyond initial construction costs to include ongoing maintenance, emergency repairs following storm events, and the eventual replacement of infrastructure that can no longer be economically maintained.
Broader Economic Impacts
Among the economic losses would be impacts to commercial fisheries, the volume of shipping that passes through the state’s ports, earnings of workers in the oil and gas industry, public infrastructure like roads and bridges, private infrastructure like pipelines, to say nothing of houses and other personal property damaged by flooding and storm surge. As losses hit one economic sector, they tend to ripple through various related businesses, thus hardships would be felt in other industries than mentioned here.
Up to $138 billion in national business, residential and infrastructure assets could be lost in just one big storm. This staggering figure reflects the concentration of valuable assets in Louisiana’s coastal zone and the increasing vulnerability of these assets as protective wetlands disappear.
Transportation disruptions affect supply chains, increase shipping costs, and reduce economic competitiveness. When roads flood or ports close due to storm damage, businesses face delays, spoilage of perishable goods, and lost revenue. The cumulative effect of repeated disruptions can drive businesses to relocate to areas with more reliable infrastructure, further eroding the economic base of coastal communities.
Impact on Communities and Quality of Life
Because of this loss of Louisiana’s coastline, many Louisiana communities are being affected, with some communities experiencing flooding on a much more regular basis, and if this loss of coastline continues, many of these communities will have to relocate. Transportation infrastructure damage affects not just commerce but also the daily lives of coastal residents.
When roads flood regularly, residents face challenges accessing employment, healthcare, education, and essential services. Emergency response times increase when primary routes become impassable. The psychological toll of living with constant uncertainty about transportation access contributes to decisions to relocate, accelerating the depopulation of coastal areas.
The Role of Wetlands as Natural Infrastructure
Wetlands as Storm Buffers
The Louisiana coast is unique among the Gulf Coast States in that its coastal population centers are all buffered from the Gulf of Mexico by an expansive, although rapidly eroding, coastal wetland system. These wetlands have historically provided critical protection for transportation infrastructure by absorbing storm surge, reducing wave energy, and slowing hurricane winds.
The loss of wetlands causes further impacts from tropical storms because wetlands act as a buffer to storm surge and tropical storm winds. Each mile of wetland can reduce storm surge by several inches to a foot, depending on vegetation density and water depth. As wetlands disappear, storm surge penetrates farther inland with greater force, threatening infrastructure that was previously protected.
The sandbars off of Louisiana’s coast protect Louisiana’s coast from storm surges and high-speed winds that accompany hurricanes from the Gulf of Mexico, and in the past, these sandbars have helped minimize the damage to Louisiana’s coast from hurricanes, however, as coastal erosion continues to cause these sandbars to degrade, the damage taken by Louisiana’s coastline continues to increase.
Barrier Islands as First Line of Defense
Barrier islands are the first line of defense against storms headed toward the mainland and New Orleans. These narrow strips of land absorb the initial impact of hurricanes and tropical storms, protecting mainland infrastructure from the full force of storm surge and waves.
Barrier island stability is affected by a number of factors, including settlement, over-wash, offshore loss of sediment, longshore transport, and island breaching. As these islands erode and breach, they lose their protective capacity, exposing transportation infrastructure to more severe storm impacts.
Grand Isle is the last inhabited barrier island in Louisiana, and various beach restoration projects over the years have helped build up and maintain Grand Isle and other Louisiana’s barrier islands. The state has invested heavily in barrier island restoration, recognizing these features as critical natural infrastructure that protects both human communities and transportation systems.
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies
Coastal Restoration Projects
Louisiana has developed an ambitious coastal restoration program to address land loss and protect infrastructure. Recognizing the loss of its coastline as an existential threat to Louisiana’s communities and economy, the state developed a Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast – a 50-year, $50-billion plan to rebuild Louisiana’s coast and its ecosystems.
In 2023, the Louisiana Legislature unanimously approved the latest master plan, which outlined 77 projects costing roughly $50 billion over the next 50 years, including: $11 billion for “nonstructural” risk management such as residential elevations, commercial floodproofing and voluntary acquisition of properties; $25 billion for restoration projects, including marsh creation, diversions, land bridges, ridge restorations and hydrologic restoration projects; $7.7 billion for new levees and improving existing structures; $2.5 billion is allocated to programmatic restoration efforts and small-scale strategies, such as bank stabilization and barrier island maintenance.
Louisiana’s desperate efforts to restore and protect its diminishing coastline from further erosion over the past decade has been largely funded by the more than $8 billion in settlement money awarded to the state after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This funding has enabled the state to implement numerous large-scale restoration projects, though advocates warn that sustainable long-term funding sources must be identified as these settlement funds are depleted.
Sediment Diversion and River Reconnection
One of the most promising strategies for rebuilding coastal land involves reconnecting the Mississippi River to its delta through sediment diversions. Natural crevasses and freshwater diversion projects have worked to reconnect the sediment-rich Mississippi River to its floodplain, allowing the waterway to replenish damaged wetlands with valuable nutrients and land-building material that would otherwise be deposited into the Gulf of Mexico.
These diversions mimic the natural processes that built Louisiana’s coastal plain over thousands of years. By allowing sediment-laden river water to flow into coastal basins during high-water periods, these projects can build new land and maintain existing wetlands, providing natural protection for transportation infrastructure.
The natural crevasse at Fort St. Philip, in Plaquemines Parish, has been one notable success story, initially formed when the Mississippi River breached its natural levee, with the site enhanced in 2006 by the CPRA with additional crevasses and the construction of marsh terraces, earthen berms that catch and stabilize incoming sedimentary deposits.
Barrier Island and Shoreline Restoration
The restoration of Louisiana’s barrier islands and barrier island systems have been a priority for the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, with the state spending billions of dollars on more than 40 barrier island projects aimed at reconstructing them due to climate change-fueled land loss since 2020. These projects involve dredging sand from offshore sources and using it to rebuild eroded islands, construct protective dunes, and restore beach habitat.
More than 5 million cubic yards of dredged sediment from the Calcasieu Ship Channel will be used to convert about 600 acres of open water near Calcasieu Parish’s Black Lake back into marshland that had been lost to erosion, while more than 860,000 tons of rock will be strategically piled across a nearly nine-mile stretch that will extend existing breakwaters—artificial reefs that can reduce the impact of waves and lessen coastal erosion—at Cameron Parish’s Holly Beach.
Infrastructure Hardening and Elevation
In addition to landscape-scale restoration, Louisiana has implemented programs to protect existing infrastructure through hardening and elevation. The project, a collaboration between the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), is focused on roughly 4,700 square miles of land in three parishes in the southwestern corner of the state: Cameron, Vermilion, and Calcasieu, where more than 3,000 homes have been identified as being at risk of imminent flooding, and therefore as candidates for elevation funding.
For transportation infrastructure, elevation strategies include raising roadways, strengthening bridge foundations, and constructing protective barriers around critical facilities. These measures can extend the useful life of existing infrastructure and reduce vulnerability to flooding and storm surge.
Levees and Structural Protection
While levees contributed to the original problem by cutting off sediment delivery to coastal wetlands, modern levee systems remain necessary to protect developed areas and critical infrastructure. The challenge lies in integrating structural protection with natural restoration to create a comprehensive defense system.
Contemporary approaches emphasize “multiple lines of defense,” combining restored wetlands and barrier islands as outer protection with levees and floodwalls as inner protection. This layered approach recognizes that no single strategy can fully address the complex challenges posed by coastal erosion and climate change.
Sustainable Land Management Practices
Addressing coastal erosion requires changes in how the coastal zone is managed and developed. Sustainable land management practices include:
- Restricting new canal dredging and requiring mitigation for unavoidable impacts
- Implementing setback requirements for new development to avoid the most vulnerable areas
- Restoring natural hydrology where possible by filling or plugging abandoned canals
- Protecting remaining natural ridges and high ground that can serve as refugia
- Coordinating land use planning with coastal restoration efforts
Challenges and Obstacles to Effective Mitigation
Funding Constraints
The state continues to lose approximately a football field-size of land every 100 minutes along its Gulf Coast, and representatives from an alliance of state and national conservation groups said now is a critical time for Louisiana leaders to strategize on how to sustain the state’s ambitious coastal restoration program. As Deepwater Horizon settlement funds are depleted, Louisiana faces significant challenges in securing sustainable funding for coastal restoration.
The scale of investment required—$50 billion over 50 years—far exceeds available state resources. Federal funding remains uncertain and subject to political priorities and budget constraints. Competition for federal disaster and resilience funding has intensified as climate change impacts affect communities across the nation.
Technical and Scientific Challenges
Coastal restoration involves complex engineering and ecological challenges. Sediment diversions must be carefully designed to balance land-building benefits with potential impacts on salinity, fisheries, and existing communities. Barrier island restoration requires ongoing maintenance as natural processes continue to erode rebuilt features.
Climate change adds uncertainty to restoration planning. Rising sea levels and changing storm patterns may alter the effectiveness of restoration projects designed based on historical conditions. Adaptive management approaches that allow for adjustments as conditions change are essential but add complexity and cost.
Competing Interests and Stakeholder Conflicts
Coastal restoration efforts must navigate competing interests among various stakeholders. Commercial fishermen worry about how sediment diversions might affect oyster beds and fish populations. Oil and gas companies resist restrictions on canal dredging and pipeline construction. Property owners resist managed retreat and voluntary relocation programs.
Navigation interests require maintained shipping channels, which can conflict with efforts to restore natural hydrology. Balancing these competing demands while advancing restoration goals requires careful planning, stakeholder engagement, and sometimes difficult compromises.
Time Constraints
By 2050, Louisiana could see some 500,000 acres of additional land loss. The window for effective intervention is narrowing. Some areas may already be beyond the point where restoration is feasible or cost-effective. Difficult decisions about which areas to prioritize for protection and which to abandon will become increasingly necessary.
Future Outlook and Long-Term Considerations
Climate Change Projections
The effects of climate change are intensifying, with more intense tropical cyclones, more copious rainfall, inland river flooding, and even droughts becoming more common, and in 2020 and 2021 Louisiana endured major hurricanes Laura and Ida among other lesser storms, which reflects the type of weather we can anticipate. Future conditions will likely be more challenging than those experienced historically.
Future storms, coupled with land loss, are likely to drive storm surge and cause direct damage further inland. Transportation infrastructure that is currently considered safe may become vulnerable as protective wetlands disappear and storm intensity increases. Planning must account for these changing conditions rather than assuming historical patterns will continue.
Managed Retreat and Strategic Relocation
Ultimately, it’s something of a last-ditch effort to preserve this slice of coastline, even as some locals pick up and move inland and as formal plans for managed retreat—or government funding for community relocation—become more popular in climate-vulnerable areas across the country and the rest of the world. Not all coastal areas can be saved, and some transportation infrastructure may need to be relocated or abandoned.
Strategic decisions about where to invest in protection and where to facilitate retreat will shape Louisiana’s coastal future. These decisions have profound implications for communities, economies, and the transportation networks that connect them. Transparent, equitable processes for making these difficult choices are essential.
Innovation and New Technologies
Addressing Louisiana’s coastal crisis will require continued innovation in restoration techniques, materials, and approaches. Emerging technologies such as living shorelines, artificial reefs, and advanced sediment management systems offer new tools for coastal protection. Research into nature-based solutions that work with natural processes rather than against them shows promise.
Transportation infrastructure design must also evolve to address changing conditions. Elevated roadways, floating bridges, and other innovative approaches may become necessary in the most vulnerable areas. Building codes and engineering standards should incorporate projected future conditions rather than historical norms.
Regional and National Implications
Louisiana’s coastal crisis has implications far beyond state boundaries. The transportation infrastructure at risk serves national and international commerce. Energy supplies, agricultural exports, and manufactured goods moving through Louisiana’s ports and along its highways affect the entire nation’s economy.
The lessons learned from Louisiana’s experience with coastal erosion and infrastructure protection can inform planning in other vulnerable coastal areas. As sea levels rise globally, communities around the world face similar challenges. Louisiana’s comprehensive planning approach, restoration techniques, and adaptation strategies offer models that can be adapted to other contexts.
Policy Recommendations and Best Practices
Integrated Planning Approaches
Effective response to coastal erosion requires integration across multiple planning domains. Transportation planning must be coordinated with coastal restoration, land use planning, economic development, and emergency management. Siloed approaches that address these issues separately will be less effective and more costly than integrated strategies.
Regional planning that crosses parish and jurisdictional boundaries is essential, as coastal processes and transportation networks do not respect political boundaries. Collaborative governance structures that bring together state agencies, local governments, federal partners, and stakeholders can facilitate more comprehensive and effective planning.
Prioritizing Nature-Based Solutions
Where feasible, nature-based solutions should be prioritized over purely structural approaches. Restored wetlands and barrier islands provide multiple benefits beyond storm protection, including habitat for fish and wildlife, water quality improvement, and carbon sequestration. These natural features can also be more cost-effective over the long term than built infrastructure that requires constant maintenance.
However, nature-based solutions should be viewed as complementary to, rather than replacements for, necessary structural protection. The most effective strategies combine natural and built infrastructure in layered defense systems.
Ensuring Sustainable Funding
Long-term success requires sustainable funding mechanisms that extend beyond one-time settlement payments or disaster recovery funds. Options include:
- Dedicated state revenue sources such as taxes or fees on activities that benefit from coastal protection
- Federal programs that recognize coastal restoration as critical infrastructure investment
- Public-private partnerships that leverage private sector resources and expertise
- Regional funding mechanisms that distribute costs among beneficiaries
- Green bonds and other innovative financing tools
Building Community Resilience
Infrastructure protection must be accompanied by efforts to build community resilience. This includes:
- Providing accurate information about risks and vulnerabilities
- Supporting economic diversification to reduce dependence on vulnerable sectors
- Investing in education and workforce development to create opportunities
- Ensuring equitable access to protection and adaptation resources
- Preserving cultural heritage and community identity through transitions
Adaptive Management and Monitoring
Given the uncertainties inherent in coastal restoration and climate change, adaptive management approaches are essential. This requires:
- Comprehensive monitoring of coastal conditions and restoration project performance
- Regular reassessment of strategies based on new data and changing conditions
- Flexibility to adjust approaches when initial strategies prove ineffective
- Learning from both successes and failures
- Sharing knowledge and best practices across projects and jurisdictions
Conclusion
Coastal erosion poses an existential threat to transportation infrastructure in the Louisiana Gulf Coast, with implications that extend far beyond the immediate region. Louisiana has lost more than 2,000 square miles of its coastline since 1932, according to the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. This ongoing crisis threatens roads, bridges, ports, and other critical transportation assets that serve local communities and the national economy.
The causes of coastal erosion are complex and interconnected, involving natural processes such as subsidence and sea level rise, as well as human activities including levee construction, canal dredging, and oil and gas development. Climate change is intensifying these challenges, with more severe storms and accelerating sea level rise threatening to overwhelm existing protection measures.
Louisiana has responded with an ambitious coastal restoration program that combines large-scale engineering projects, nature-based solutions, and infrastructure adaptation. Sediment diversions, barrier island restoration, wetland creation, and strategic infrastructure elevation offer pathways to reduce vulnerability and protect critical transportation assets. However, the scale of investment required—$50 billion over 50 years—presents significant funding challenges.
Success will require sustained commitment, innovative approaches, and difficult decisions about which areas to protect and which to abandon. Integrated planning that coordinates transportation, coastal restoration, land use, and economic development is essential. Nature-based solutions should be prioritized where feasible, while recognizing that structural protection remains necessary in many areas.
The lessons from Louisiana’s experience have national and global relevance as coastal communities worldwide grapple with similar challenges. By demonstrating what works—and what doesn’t—in protecting transportation infrastructure from coastal erosion, Louisiana can help inform strategies in other vulnerable regions.
Ultimately, addressing the impacts of coastal erosion on transportation infrastructure requires acknowledging uncomfortable realities about the limits of protection, the need for adaptation, and the inevitability of change. The transportation networks that have served Louisiana’s coast for generations will need to evolve to remain viable in a future shaped by rising seas, intensifying storms, and disappearing wetlands. Through comprehensive planning, sustained investment, and innovative approaches, Louisiana can work to preserve critical transportation infrastructure while building resilience for the challenges ahead.
For more information on coastal restoration efforts, visit the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority website. Additional resources on coastal erosion and climate adaptation can be found through the NOAA Climate.gov portal and the U.S. Geological Survey.