Evaluating Coastal Erosion Structures

The island of Nantucket experiences extreme coastal erosion and property owners have built various types of coastal erosion structures to try and limit adverse impacts. The goal of this project was to find, categorize, and conduct a preliminary evaluation of the effectiveness of existing structures. Through reviews of permit information and aerial photographs, site visits, stakeholder interviews, we created a comprehensive database and an interactive map of 72 coastal erosion structures on the island. We conclude that ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ erosion structures may inhibit erosion in the short term over a limited spatial extent, but effectiveness varies dramatically by location and many structures have unintended proximal impacts