This document is intended to be a guide when designing or evaluating transportation facilities in coastal areas. Input from a TxDOT Precertified Coastal Engineer during the project’s design phase will also help by providing a better understanding of the coastal processes influencing the study site.

Step 1: Determine whether the project is located within an area influenced by coastal processes.

Step 2: Determine the level of coastal analysis that the project requires, with this guidance following designations of Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3. As part of the level designation, the designer should use this document to evaluate what factors may impact the design. There are several factors that may influence design of coastal projects including: waves, wind, water depths and velocities, water surface elevations, tropical storms and hurricanes, and project location relative to the coast. Each of these factors is discussed within this chapter.

The procedure to determine the level of analysis is presented in the following section. It should be noted that the level of analysis can vary for a given project for different factors. For example, a project could have minimal risk of scour when evaluating a coastal roadway inland of the shoreline, justifying a Level 1 analysis for scour, but the presence of shoreline erosion and need for a higher roadway elevation may be of more concern, justifying a Level 2 analysis of those factors.