Marsh Crossing Construction

A marsh crossing gets you across wetland to the water without filling it, rutting it or killing it. It is an elevated walkway on pilings, built so the marsh grass, the tidal flow and the habitat underneath keep working exactly as they did before. On most Gulf Coast waterfront lots with marsh between the house and the bayou, bay or channel, a crossing is the only permittable way to reach your own water. Gulf Coast Dock Masters builds them across coastal Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and southeast Louisiana.

We design the crossing to the site: the length of the marsh run, the tidal range, the soil, the species present and the setbacks that apply. Then we carry it through permitting and build it with our own crews and our own equipment.

What a Gulf Coast Dock Masters marsh crossing includes

• Elevated walkway on driven pilings, set high enough above the marsh surface to let light reach the grass and tidal water move freely underneath.
• Narrow footprint construction using the minimum deck width the use and the permit allow, which is what keeps the shading impact low and the approval straightforward.
• Low impact installation. We work from the walkway as it advances rather than driving equipment across the wetland, so the marsh behind us is undisturbed.
• Handrails, guardrails and stairs where the grade or the use calls for them, with marine grade stainless hardware throughout.
• Terminal platform, pier head or dock at the water end, sized for the boat and the depth you actually have.
• Material options including pressure treated timber, composite decking and hardwood, chosen for the maintenance you want to sign up for.

Permitting across wetland

Crossing a marsh touches federal jurisdiction. The US Army Corps of Engineers regulates work in navigable waters and wetlands, and each state on this coast runs its own environmental and coastal review alongside it. Some crossings qualify for a nationwide or general permit, which moves faster than an individual permit. Which one you land in depends on the design, so the design and the permit strategy get worked out together, not one after the other. We prepare the drawings, submit the applications, handle the agency correspondence and schedule the build around the approvals. It is the least visible part of what we do and one of the main reasons our projects finish on time.

Why choose Gulf Coast Dock Masters

• Licensed and insured in Alabama, Louisiana and Florida.
• We own and operate our own marine fleet, including barges, push boats, cranes and pile hammers, so access to a difficult site is a planning problem rather than a subcontractor problem.
• Permitting handled end to end, including the wetland review that stops most crossings before they start.
• Experience with low impact wetland work, where the method matters as much as the materials.
• Free on site assessment with a written scope and price before any work begins.

Service areas

Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Fort Morgan, Dauphin Island, Perdido Key, Perdido Beach, Innerarity Point, Pensacola, Fairhope, Daphne, Mobile, New Orleans and the surrounding communities and parishes.

Get a free estimate on your marsh crossing

Call the Alabama and Florida office at (251) 215-1712 or the Louisiana office at (504) 329-2003, or send the form on this page and we will call you back to schedule the site visit.