Bulkheads & Seawalls in Northwest Florida

Northwest Florida's Pensacola area is a network of bays, bayous and sounds behind Santa Rosa Island and Perdido Key. Residential bulkheads here face low daily tides but a long record of damaging hurricanes, and local government actively promotes softer shoreline alternatives. This page covers Escambia County and the adjacent Santa Rosa Sound and Perdido Bay shorelines.

The waterfront environment

Bays, bayous and sounds

Pensacola Bay opens to the Gulf of Mexico through Pensacola Pass. Escambia Bay extends north toward the river delta, and urban bayous such as Bayou Texar and Bayou Chico reach into the city. Santa Rosa Sound runs east behind Santa Rosa Island and Pensacola Beach, and Big Lagoon and Perdido Bay lie to the west along the Alabama line. Shorelines range from sheltered bayou lots to bay frontage with long open fetch.

Small tides

NOAA tidal datums give a mean tide range of about 1.2 feet at Pensacola and 1.25 feet at the Pensacola Beach Pier, with a great diurnal range of about 1.3 to 1.4 feet. Tides here are small compared with Florida's Atlantic coast. With so little daily range, the most severe loads on a bulkhead usually come from storms: surge, waves riding on top of the surge, and heavy rainfall saturating backfill.

Storm history

The National Hurricane Center's reports describe two especially damaging events:

• Hurricane Ivan, 2004. NHC reported that portions of the Interstate 10 bridge system across Pensacola Bay were severely damaged by wave action on top of a 10 to 15 foot storm surge, with as much as a quarter mile of the bridge collapsing into the bay. The U.S. Highway 90 causeway across the northern part of the bay was also heavily damaged.
• Hurricane Sally, 2020. NHC estimated maximum inundation of 5 to 7 feet above ground level along the coasts of Baldwin County, Alabama, and Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, Florida. The NOS tide gauge in Pensacola recorded a peak of 5.6 feet above mean higher high water. NHC also noted that Sally's erratic track produced flooding in some areas followed by abnormally low water from offshore winds, and that some locations received two feet or more of rain.

A rapid drop in water level after high water can leave saturated soil pushing on a wall with little water on the other side. That is one reason post-storm inspections matter even when a wall looks intact. See signs of bulkhead failure and tieback and anchor repair.

Living shorelines as an alternative

Escambia County's Natural Resources Management department describes living shorelines as a way of reducing erosion, improving water quality and providing habitat. The county states that hard shoreline structures like bulkheads prevent natural marsh migration and may create seaward erosion. Its projects use oyster reefs or other permitted materials to reduce wave energy and native vegetation to hold sediment, replacing typical armoring with bulkheads, seawalls and riprap. The county's projects are authorized through permits from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Living shorelines are not suitable everywhere. High wave energy, steep or deep nearshore conditions and limited space can rule them out. Our guide to riprap and living shorelines and shoreline erosion control compares options.

Permitting in the Pensacola area

Escambia County's Building Services permitting resources list these agencies for coastal construction, including docks, piers and seawalls:

Building permits come from Escambia County, Santa Rosa County or a city such as Pensacola or Gulf Breeze, depending on location. Gulf-front construction on Santa Rosa Island and Perdido Key seaward of the Coastal Construction Control Line also involves DEP's CCCL program. Our Permit Navigator lists verified agency pages for Florida.

Planning a project here

1. Assess exposure: sheltered bayou, open bay or sound frontage, or Gulf beach.
2. Ask a marine contractor or engineer whether a living shoreline, revetment or bulkhead fits the site, and document why.
3. Confirm which county or city issues building permits for the lot.
4. Review the bulkhead permit guide and bulkhead repair vs. replacement.

This page is educational. Agencies decide what a specific project needs, and licensed professionals assess specific walls.