Sanibel Causeway Reconstruction: How Superior Construction Built Resilient Coastal Infrastructure

Three years ago I sat at my desk and saw the photos and videos posted online in the aftermath of hurricane Ian. I felt a catch in my throat as I saw what happened to the small community just off the coast of Fort Myers, Florida. 

You see, I grew up in the state of Florida, just a few hours north in Ocala, and my family spent several years vacationing there. More recently, even though I live in Ohio now, I’ve taken my own family back there, and my children have made memories on the same beaches I did when I was their age.

We all cried over the devastation to our home-away-from-home. It was hard enough thinking about the loss from a distance, but we also thought of the losses for the people who live in that community whom we’d grown to love and appreciate, as well as, the harm brought to the habitat and the animals who live there too. 

In the immediate wake of the storm, one of the biggest dangers centered on the loss of the Sanibel Causeway, built six decades ago in 1963, which is the only way on-or-off the island. Regaining access was essential to the recovery efforts and emergency relief getting to where it was most needed. Amazingly, in less than thirty days, a temporary bridge was built to get things moving again. 

In June of 2025, Superior Construction announced that the full causeway rebuild was complete, along with many enhanced design and engineering features to increase the bridge’s ability to withstand severe weather events like hurricanes and storm surges in the future.

“Hurricane Ian’s timing was particularly devastating,” noted Toby Mazzoni, Area Manager at Superior Construction, the primary contractor responsible for reconstruction. “Because it destroyed not only the original infrastructure but also obliterated nearly $9 million worth of active improvements that were about 30% complete when the storm hit.”

These enhancements, which began in September 2021, included:

• New public parking areas
• Restroom facilities
• Erosion control measures
• Native landscaping
• Bear noursihment
• Additional tourist amenities

Resilient Rebuild: Lessons In Reconstruction

The extent of Ian’s damage was catastrophic. The hurricane washed out all mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls, breached the islands themselves, and undermined bridge approaches at all three locations. More than 280,000 cubic yards of earthwork, 8,500 cubic yards of concrete, 750,000 square feet of sheet piling, 30,000 tons of asphalt, and over 215,000 tons of coastal armoring were required to rebuild. These quantities barely give you an idea of the sheer scale of the damages.

However, within the destruction lay an opportunity to innovate and build the causeway back, better than it had ever been before. 

“We incorporated major changes designed to create resilience against future hurricanes,” explained Mazzoni. Among these upgrades, the causeway road was elevated two feet higher, seawalls increased from five to eight feet, and vulnerable MSE walls were replaced entirely by cantilevered steel sheet pile walls installed as deep as 70 feet.

These sheet pile walls were placed along the entire length of the roadway on both sides of the chain islands, and were reinforced with “King Pile” technology at critical locations, aimed at increased wave resistance. King piles provide significant load-bearing capacity and resistance to bending. 

The reconstruction team also took lessons from Ian’s devastation to heart, implementing 25,225 square yards of Gabion marine mattress technology to protect against scour, an innovative closed-loop underdrain system to alleviate hydrostatic pressures, and significantly upgraded coastal armoring. It required almost a quarter million tons of various aggregates, consisting of 128,000 tons of granite armor stone, larger and more robust than traditional riprap; paired with 87,000 tons of riprap stone. 

According to Mazzoni, “These changes reflected nearly 60 years of advancement in coastal engineering, including modern hurricane modeling capabilities and climate projections that weren’t available when the original causeway was designed.”

In terms of materials, the roadway underwent substantial design changes to withstand tidal conditions and the corrosive coastal environment. Superior Construction explained that traditional Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) roadway structures, which typically involve stabilized earth layers, were significantly modified to remove vulnerable earth elements altogether. Instead, they employed a robust design featuring shell base, limerock/stone layers, and thicker asphalt courses. This adaptation was described as shifting from earth, stone, and asphalt, to a resilient structure of stone, asphalt, and more asphalt.

Beyond asphalt, concrete specifications were tailored meticulously to the aggressive coastal environment. The reconstruction utilized sophisticated concrete mixtures incorporating highly reactive pozzolans to enhance resistance to saltwater intrusion. Most of the concrete used (8,500 cubic yards) had a strength of 5,500 psi, with fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) reinforcement strategically placed in the most vulnerable areas, providing superior corrosion resistance compared to traditional steel reinforcement.

Advanced technology and novel materials played critical roles. 

“Glass fiber polymer reinforcement was used extensively to extend infrastructure lifespan to 75 years,” stated Superior Construction. Moreover, GPS-guided installations enabled precise placement of granite armor stone, critical for optimal performance.

The breakdown included:

• 1,300 cubic yards of Class II, 3,400 psi concrete with highly reactive pozzolan using standard Grade 60 carbon steel reinforcement for concrete fascia (requiring 41,800 lbs of standard reinforcement).

• 700 cubic yards of Class II (Bridge Deck), 4,500 psi concrete with standard reinforcement for concrete bridge approach slabs and transition slabs (requiring 100,600 lbs of standard reinforcement).

• 3,950 cubic yards of Class IV, 5,500 psi concrete with Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) reinforcement for concrete bulkheads, concrete caps, and slope pavement on top of sheet pile walls (requiring 340,000 linear feet of FRP reinforcement).

• 2,500 cubic yards of Class IV, 5,500 psi concrete with highly reactive pozzolan using standard reinforcement for various concrete barrier walls (requiring 241,600 lbs of reinforcement).

Additionally, 1,400 square yards of concrete slope pavement required approximately 250 cubic yards of concrete, and 7,000 linear feet of various concrete barrier walls contributed about 2,500 cubic yards to the total.

Working Together To Get The Job Done

Superior Construction partnered with The de Moya Group, who provided marine operations expertise, and the design efforts were led by Kisinger Campo & Associates with Hardesty & Hanover as a structural design subconsultant. Such large-scale collaboration required sophisticated, multi-layered communication strategies. 

“During the emergency phase covering the first 15 days, the team conducted hourly coordination meetings for real-time problem-solving,” Mazzoni noted. When typical communication channels weren’t working optimally, teams relied on whiteboards and face-to-face collaboration.

The reconstruction revealed that phased design-build delivery was critical for emergency response under uncertain conditions, allowing the team to begin emergency repairs immediately while concurrently designing permanent reconstruction.

The task-order-based structure prevented the design-builder from having to price unknown conditions in the immediate aftermath of a catastrophic hurricane, while collaborative cost development proved more effective than traditional fixed-price approaches. Technology integration lessons showed that advanced coastal modeling was essential for resilient design decisions, real-time collaboration was more important than rigid specifications, and co-location of teams was essential for rapid decision-making.

Risk management strategies validated a balanced approach through task-based work orders, with weather risks during emergency repairs primarily borne by the owner, construction methodology risks allocated to the design-builder, and regulatory/permitting risks shared between parties.

The team learned that traditional procurement methods were inadequate for emergency conditions, and that collaborative approaches enabled rapid adaptation to challenges, including permit expirations that threatened marine operations, supply chain barriers overcome through extraordinary partnerships, and the successful reconfiguration of construction sequencing when marine permit limitations required switching from “outside-in” to “inside-out” construction approaches.

The integration of advanced materials like FRP reinforcement and sophisticated concrete mix designs under emergency timelines demonstrated that high-performance construction is achievable even under accelerated schedules when the team structure supports rapid decision-making and collaborative problem-solving.

Essential Technologies 

In such a unique and difficult environment, leveraging new and innovative technological assets was essential. The reconstruction leveraged cutting-edge technology throughout all project phases:

• Drone technology played a crucial role, with Propeller drone mapping providing precise quantity surveying and 3D modeling capabilities, real-time streaming capabilities enabling remote progress monitoring, and initial damage assessment when physical access was impossible immediately after Hurricane Ian.

• Communication technology included Starlink satellite communications to maintain reliable connectivity when traditional telecommunications infrastructure was compromised. 

• Precision installation utilized GPS-guided installation technology for critical coastal protection elements, particularly for the precise placement of the 128,000 tons of granite armor stone, and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) with Automated Machine Control (AMC) for precise layout and installation.

• Assessment technology incorporated reality capture technologies for underwater bridge foundation assessments and remote-operated submersible vehicles for detailed subsurface damage documentation that would have been difficult to assess through traditional diving operations.

• Advanced modeling included Building Information Modeling (BIM) for complex coordination of utilities, drainage, and structural elements within the limited causeway footprint, along with sophisticated ADCIRC and SWAN coastal engineering modeling that enabled the team to simulate Hurricane Ian’s impacts and make critical, data-driven design decisions for permanent reconstruction.

Moving On, Moving Forward

Key lessons from Hurricane Ian reshaped shoreline protection strategies drastically. As Superior Construction explained, analysis of the storm highlighted the inadequacies of previous coastal protection measures, driving a comprehensive overhaul of seawalls, armoring, and embedment techniques. 

This new approach proved its worth during the 2024 hurricane season when the rebuilt sections of the causeway withstood hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton with minimal damage. While everyone else might have been holding their breath during those storms, for the contractors, this was real-world validation of their resilience strategies.

Maintenance and lifecycle considerations also factored heavily into design decisions. According to Superior Construction, the causeway’s new infrastructure anticipates temporary inundation during storms but ensures rapid restoration of functionality once waters recede. The design, backed by advanced modeling and precise materials selection, significantly reduces long-term maintenance requirements.

The project’s innovative practices and successful management under intense emergency conditions have established the Superior-de Moya Joint Venture as leaders in coastal infrastructure resilience. 

“We’ve received awards and recognition from multiple industry organizations,” Mazzoni shared, reinforcing the impact and effectiveness of their efforts.

For road builders and asphalt producers nationwide, the Sanibel Causeway reconstruction offers an essential blueprint for building resilience into infrastructure. It demonstrates not only how to respond quickly to disasters but how to emerge stronger, better prepared, and ready to withstand the forces of nature—whatever comes next.