Army Corps: Freeport coastal-storm project suspended; Velasco Drainage District advancing pump and levee work

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told the Freeport City Council on April 7 that the Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay coastal storm risk management project for Freeport is on suspension and that the Corps and local partners are finalizing a post-authorization change report to document a reduced scope.

The Corps’ project manager, Eddie Rigoin of the Galveston District, said the original Freeport plan called for raising about 13.1 miles of levees and constructing roughly 5.5 miles of floodwall, with final elevations “approximately from 15.8 feet to 23.” He told the council that, after discussions with the nonfederal sponsor (the Velasco Drainage District), the recommended updated scope reduces the levee work to about eight miles and the floodwall work to about two miles; a floodgate at the Dow Barge Canal remains in the proposed plan. Rigoin said the project has been suspended since April 2024 at the request of the Velasco…