'Rock Pillows' the Latest Tool to Fight Coastal Erosion

The state of Louisiana is deploying giant 'pillows' of crushed rock to slow coastal erosion.

1 minute read

November 8, 2018, 1:00 PM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Louisiana Shoreline

sevenMaps7 / Shutterstock

"The [Louisiana] state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has completed the first mile of a three-mile-long shoreline protection project that uses rock-filled pillows, each about the size of a small car, to slow land loss along the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in Cameron Parish," reports Tristan Baurick.

The rock pillows proved the most successful after a trial of experiments that included more traditional breakwater failed. "If successful, the $34 million project could be replicated along other stretches of the state’s coastline," according to Baurick.

Wednesday, November 7, 2018 in The Times-Picayune

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