SOUTH SHORE OF KEY WEST, FLORIDA 



The study area comprises the south shore of Key West and is about 

 4 miles in length, the problem area being about 6,200 feet in length 

 and lying just east of the middle of the study area. Key West is one 

 of the Florida Keys, near the western end of the chain which separates 

 the Straits of Florida from the Gulf of Mexico. The island is deve- 

 loped as a winter resort. Local interests estimate that 200,000 

 tourists visit Key West annually. The estimated permanent population 

 of the island in 1957 was 32,000, in addition to about 23,000 Navy 

 personnel and their dependents. The entire 6,200-foot frontage of the 

 problem shore is publicly owned. The shore of the study area is ex- 

 posed to waves of the Straits of Florida, but large waves are broken 

 up to considerable extent by a reef lying about 5 miles offshore. The 

 predominance of energy components in deep water is such that a west- 

 ward littoral transport would be expected. However, due to lack of 

 sand on the shallow rocky bottom, no signs of appreciable littoral 

 drift are apparent. The mean and spring tidal ranges are respectively 

 1.3 cuid 1.6 feet. The highest tide of record, 3.8 feet above mean low 

 water, occurred during a hurricane in 19^^, 



The district and division engineers concluded that the most prac- 

 ticable plan of improvement consists of artificial placement of a 

 protective and recreational beach along South Roosevelt Boulevard, and 

 that such work is economically justified by prospective benefits. They 

 also concluded that the public interest associated with protection of 

 public lands and improvements, and restoration of public beach areas 

 was sufficient to warrant adoption of a project authorizing Federal 

 participation in the cost of protecting the shore of Key West, the 

 share of the expense thereof to be borne by the United states to be 

 one-third of the cost of the work, in accordance with the provisions 

 of Public Law 826, 84th Congress. 



They accordingly recommended adoption of a project for Key West, 

 Florida, to authorize Federal participation by the contribution of 

 funds in amount of one-third of the first costs and one-third of the 

 periodic nourishments costs to replace alongshore losses for a period 

 of 10 years from the year of completion of the initial placement, of 

 a plan for protection comprising restoration of a protective beach 

 with a berm 100 feet wide at elevation of 4 feet above mean low water 

 along a section of South Roosevelt Boulevard approximately 6,200 feet 

 in length. The Chief of Engineers concurred in the views and recom- 

 mendations of the Beach Erosion Board. 



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