Galveston Bay, TX · $240B (proposal)
GAL-12 · Galveston Bay Coastal Defense Wall
A 30-mile, 12-meter-high seawall across Galveston Bay, armored with 22 million tons of rock on the ocean side, with automated hydraulic gates to seal the Houston Ship Channel when Gulf surges threaten — the "Ike Dike" concept taken to its maximum.
Pros
- Directly addresses the Ike Dike proposal that Texas A&M and the Army Corps have studied for over a decade — this isn't a new idea, it's the full-build version.
- Protects the Houston Ship Channel, the largest petrochemical complex in America.
- Passive culverts for normal tidal exchange show real ecological thinking.
Cons
- A 30-mile wall across a living bay will alter salinity, sediment, and fisheries no matter how many culverts you add.
- 22 million tons of armor rock requires quarrying on a scale that creates its own environmental disaster elsewhere.
- The Army Corps' own Ike Dike estimate was ~$30B; $240B suggests massive scope inflation.
Feasibility: The most "real" project on the Gulf list — the Ike Dike has genuine engineering studies behind it, and the Dutch Delta Works prove 30-mile barriers are buildable. But the proposal's $240B is roughly 8x the Corps' estimate for a comparable structure. The concept is feasible; this budget is not the real number.
Aerial mock-up: A 30-mile, 12-meter-high unbroken fortress wall, ocean side jagged with armor rock, bay side lined with pedestrian wave pathways and vertical foliage.
