V&G Design/Build Project Plays an Important Environmental Role on Florida’s West Coast

Top: Wave attenuator forms are delivered and readied for pouring concrete.

Center: Matt McGee, Bridge Foreman at V&G, supervises the pouring of concrete into the form to create the wave attenuators.

Right: (Top & bottom) Once the forms are removed, Attenuators are stored along the beach until they can be placed in the appropriate area approximately 150 feet off shore.

Vecellio & Grogan has a unique project with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) in Tampa. The Sunshine Skyway Seawall Protection and Mitigation project is V&G’s first design/build project with FDOT and involves the building of two artificial reefs along the coast of Tampa Bay.

Utilizing Living Shoreline Solutions’ products, V&G is creating and placing wave attenuator devices that will combine to provide more than five acres of potential seagrass growth and added protection for the coastline against rough weather.

The first reef will consist of 360 attenuators that measure ten feet six inches tall. These will create a reef that is approximately 1,178 feet in length.

The second will consist of 484 devices that stand eight feet six inches tall and span an area of more than 1,500 feet.

A large protective area behind the manmade breakwaters will be used as a seagrass mitigation bank for the FDOT.

This area will create a calm environment conducive for propagating seagrass which is important to sustaining existing and future sea life.