Indian River Drive

Technical Description:

• ArmorFlex^® Class 50S
• ArmorFlex^® Class 50 ECO
• Area: 1,214,646 sf

During the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season, three hurricanes touched down in a two-month period in St. Lucie county. Hurricane Charley introduced the tempestuous season in August, and hurricanes Frances and Jeanne continued to wreak havoc in central Florida along thirteen miles of the Indian Drive shoreline in September. In the aftermath, county officials declared the road to be in danger of complete collapse, which compelled the Board of County Commissioners to secure a $30 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in an effort to reconstruct the terrain.

The St. Lucie County Engineering Department worked with HDR Engineering on a solution to repair the damaged road and shoreline. HDR’s design reconstructed and stabilized the embankment by protecting it with hard armor along the bottom six vertical feet of the slope and using reinforced geotextile sod on the upper portion of the bank. St. Lucie County selected Armortec’s ArmorFlex^® 50S and 50ECO articulated concrete block due to the ease and speed of installation, cost-effectiveness, and overall aesthetics.

FEMA regulations required the construction to be completed in less than 150 days from the bid date. In order to meet the deadline, three local contractors - Hubbard Construction, Ranger Construction and Dickerson Florida, Inc. - were hired to handle an average of 9,000 sf a day, per section, to meet the job’s stringent time constraints. All three sections of the project were successfully completed by the project deadline.

Technical Description:

• ArmorFlex^® Class 50S
• ArmorFlex^® Class 50 ECO
• Area: 1,214,646 sf