EM 1110-2-1100 (Part V)
31 Jul 2003
constructed. Here, the perception that all the affected community was "protected" made the local sponsor
share obtainable (Pendergrass & Pendergrass 1990).
(3) Special cases.
(a) Brighton Beach Hotel, Coney Island, New York. Komar (1998) shows etchings of the 1888
relocation of a large, beachfront hotel on Coney Island, New York. Twenty-four railway tracks were laid to
span the entire hotel width, and the wooden pile-supported hotel was lifted onto freight cars on each track.
Six locomotives pulled the hotel inland 150 m. No details on costs were provided for this private project
which required property ownership and grading of the inland site. Its economic viability also depended on
the availability of railway equipment in that era over 100 years ago. Full details are in Scientific American
(1888).
(b) Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, North Carolina. Very recently, relocation of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
has been completed by the National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Department of Commerce (see, e.g., Civil
Engineering 1999). The lighthouse is on the east coast of Hatteras Island about 4.02 km (2.5 miles) north of
the tip of Cape Hatteras and 64.37 km (40 miles) south of the Oregon Inlet (Figure I-2-6). It is located within
Cape Hatteras National Seashore Park, administered by the NPS. The original lighthouse built at this site in
1803 was replaced in 1870 by the present structure, which is the tallest (61 m) and perhaps best-known brick
lighthouse in the United States. When built in 1870, it was approximately 490 m from the shoreline. By
1935, this distance diminished to about 30 m due to landward migration of this cape feature. The mhw,
average recession rate between 1852 - 1980 (128 years) has been 5.9 m/year and 3.9 m/year for the 1870 -
1980 (110 years) period (Everts, Battley, and Gibson 1983). In 1996, partly due to a wide variety of
piecemeal, temporary and emergency measures (see Table V-3-11), the lighthouse stood about 50 - 90 m from
the Atlantic Ocean (U.S. Army Engineer District, Wilmington, 1996) depending on the season and tidal
conditions. The existing, steel, sheet-pile groin field was actually designed and constructed by the Navy to
protect its installation to the north in 1970. The lighthouse, a national historic landmark, remained in
operation, and the NPS decided in 1980 that a long-term solution of the erosion problem was needed.
A 1982 conference of experts from many disciplines (engineering, geology, economy, and historic
preservation) together with a 1985 study by the Wilmington District convinced the NPS to employ
a structural solution. A seawall/revetment structure was selected. Also a factor in this decision was
scientific and engineering opinion that the lighthouse could not be moved without suffering serious
structural damage. Congress approved .3 million and construction was to begin during the summer
of 1986.
A Move the Lighthouse Committee Report (private) convinced the NPS to seek the advice of the
National Academy of Sciences. Their final report (National Research Council 1988) recommended
the retreat alternative and in December 1989, the NPS reversed its decision and announced its
approval of the relocation alternative. The next 10 years were filled with further controversy and
debate due to lack of congressional funding for the relocation; public sentiment in North Carolina
against the move (Save the Lighthouse Committee, private), and other ad hoc committee reports with
updated studies. During the period, other structural engineers and large-scale relocation experts
became convinced that the lighthouse could be moved without damage.
V-3-84
Shore Protection Projects
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