Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation announced the receipt of an $88 million award for Phase I of the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MsCIP) Comprehensive Barrier Island Restoration. MsCIP was initiated in 2005 in the aftermath of the damage and destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, and addresses hurricane and storm damage reduction, salt water intrusion, shoreline erosion and fish and wildlife preservation. Ship Island is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore and currently exists as two island segments, East Ship and West Ship, separated by Camille Cut. In 1969, Hurricane Camille substantially breached a part of Ship Island that had been historically vulnerable to breaching, and the breach remains as a 3.5-mile-wide shallow sandbar between the two small islands. Great Lakes’ award involves dredging nearly 7 million cubic yards of sand from distant borrow sources and placing the material to close Camille Cut and restore Ship Island to a single elongated barrier island. Work is expected to commence this summer and is expected to be completed in 2018.