Expensive sea walls have their uses, and especially so where there is no chance of relocating manmade structures, such as in downtown areas. The Woodes Rogers' Walk, and the new promenade/sea wall at Arthur's Town on Cat Island, are justifiable structures. However, the spate of sea walls planned for high-energy coasts is simply a case of throwing good money after bad, and setting up a scenario for endless rebuilding linked to high value amenity loss. Walls will not stop shoreline erosion, and they will probably increase it at the same time that they remove another amenity, namely the sandy beach on which the economy depends! As the sea walls considered here are almost exclusively aimed at preserving badly sited roads, and not aimed at coastal protection or restoration, this is not surprising. We can hardly blame highway engineers for looking after their own structures, but we should ask why the much more valuable resource of the beach/dune shoreline does not have its own coastal engineers, and the necessary institutions, to protect it