1 Introduction 



The Prototype 



Revere Beach in the City of Revere, Massachusetts, is located on the 

 Massachusetts coastline approximately 6 miles' northeast of Boston (Fig- 

 ure 1). The beach is located on Broad Sound, bordered by Roughans 

 Point headland to the south and Point of Pines to the north, and is partially 

 sheltered by the Nahant Peninsula to the northeast. Revere Beach is the 

 oldest public beach in the nation, with boundaries established in 1895. 



Erosion of the beach led to construction of protective seawalls in the 

 1920's along most of the reach. The seawalls were not sufficient to pre- 

 vent severe flooding of backshore areas. The beach continued to erode, 

 and waterfront establishments suffered from the floodings. 



Approximately 600,000 cu yd of fill were placed along Revere Beach 

 in 1991 as part of the Revere Beach Restoration project constructed by 

 the U.S. Army Engineer Division, New England (NED). The fill placed a 

 50-ft-wide berm in front of the seawall at elevation 18.0 ft mean low 

 water (mlw), which is typically 2 to 3 ft below the seawall crest. Although 

 the beach was not designed or justified for flood level reduction, it does 

 reduce wave overtopping, resulting in incidental flood reduction benefits. 



Eight bathymetric profiles were surveyed along Revere Beach and 

 Point of Pines after a 1978 storm, extending offshore from the seawall for 

 approximately 10,000 ft (Figure 2). The surveys were repeated after a 

 beachfill project in 1991, and a storm which followed in October 1991. 



A table of factors for converting non-Sl units of measurement to SI units is presented 

 on page vii. 



Chapter 1 Introduction 



