May 2025 | Mike Vogel
Broward’s seaport, Port Everglades, began work in October on a $152-million project to replace four of the port’s bulkheads, the retaining walls that protect the shore from erosion by waves and currents. Some $32 million of the money to “mitigate environmental threats from flooding and sea level rise” comes from the state Resilient Florida grant program, part of $275 million in such grants in that 2024 cycle. The port project sheds light on how Florida's transportation and trade infrastructure will adapt to sea level rise.
The port had to replace the bulkheads regardless of what happens with sea levels. During a regular assessment of port facilities, says deputy port director Glenn Wiltshire, it was determined the bulkheads were aging out. The steel in one portion dates to 1928 when the port was created. Over the course of decades as Florida replaces infrastructure reaching the end of its useful life, private and public entities will rebuild for higher seas.
The seas may get higher, but the new bulkheads will be the same height as the old. The port found the old bulkheads already were high enough to meet a county requirement that such structures be able to withstand the projected rise in sea level through 2050.
The new bulkheads will be designed so that they may be added onto should sea level rise prove more aggressive. With additions, the bulkheads can accommodate 4.36 feet of sea level rise by 2095.