SOUTH PADRE ISLAND – Efforts are underway to protect Texas beaches from disappearing.

The government has a plan in place to protect the Texas coast from dangerous weather after three years of study, but wants to hear from the public.

The Army Corps of Engineers launched a $20 million coastal study in 2015 – the rough draft was presented at a meeting in Port Isabel on Thursday.

The plan calls for a 12-foot tall, 20-foot wide raised bank of sand and a 100-foot wide beach across much of South Padre Island.

Crews at SPI are already battling beach erosion by building a sand-bar structure which helps protect the shoreline and dunes – that system is called dredging.

“South Padre Island has been using, since about 1988, dredging material, it's called beneficial use placement idea, where we take sand out of the channels and move it onto land, and we build dunes and beaches in front of coastal communities. That's one component of this plan,” says Kelly Burks, project manager of the Texas Coastal Protection and Restoration study.

KRGV’s Sierra Pizarro explains residents in Texas have the chance to voice their opinions on the plan by sending an email to coastaltexas@usace.army.mil until Jan. 9.

Watch the video above for the full story.