Galveston District > Missions

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US Army Corps of Engineers

Galveston District Website

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Navigation Branch

The USACE Galveston District plays a key role in America's well-being by keeping waterways open for navigation and commerce. The Galveston District is directly responsible for monitoring more than 1,000 miles of channel. Dredges are constantly at work keeping vital marine arteries open for waterborne traffic carrying cargo ranging from crude oil to coffee. Other priorities include construction of jetties or breakwaters to protect harbor and inlet entrances and the locks along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway at the crossing of the Brazos and Colorado Rivers.

Babe's Beach Nourishment Project 2021

A new video has been released by the SWG Office of Public Affairs highlighting the partnership to restore Babe's Beach in Galveston.

The project cost $12 million and added sand dredged from the Houston-Galveston ship channel to nourish Babe’s Beach and expand the beach further west beginning at 61st Street.

Almost 609,000 cubic yards of dredge materials were used. Crews began mobilizing ocean pipe and equipment this summer and started placing the sand when the dredging ship arrived later. The project was completed in the fall of 2021.

Not all dredged material made it to the beach. Only "beach-quality" material was used for the replentishment project. This is the third time Babe's Beach has been nourished. The District also performed similar replentishment projects in 2015 and 2019.

SWG partnered with the Galveston Park Board, the city of Galveston, the Texas General Land Office (GLO), and the "Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012" (RESTORE Act) for the project.