14 years after Superstorm Sandy, billions of dollars are being invested in coastal flood protection in NY & NJ

Superstorm Sandy hit Hoboken especially hard. Seventy-five percent of this mile-square city lies within FEMA’s high-risk flood zone, and the storm surge nearly flooded the entire zone. In response, Hoboken was selected as one of ten sites in the Northeast for the federal Rebuild by Design program. Working with a multidisciplinary team that included Dutch engineers and planners, a comprehensive strategy—Resist, Delay, Store, Discharge—was developed for Hoboken and small portions of Weehawken and Jersey City.

I participated in numerous workshops and presentations as the project evolved locally, and attended conferences focused on the growing threats of sea-level rise, future flooding, and major storm events. In the past two years, I watched the NJ Department of Environmental Protection advance the “resist” component:  large floodwalls at Hoboken’s  low-lying north and south ends that will include deployable flood gates that are designed to block future storm surges.

On May 19, en route to the Waterfront Conference at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Lower Manhattan, I was forced to detour around Battery Park City due to extensive construction along the waterfront. This work is part of the Battery Park City Resiliency Project, which began late last year and is expected to proceed in phases over the next three and a half years.

The conference, sponsored by the Waterfront Alliance and titled Future-Proofing Our Waterfronts, focused on safeguarding the region from climate change, severe storms, and storm surge—amid declining political and financial support.

As part of the program, I joined a walking tour of The Battery Coastal Resilience Project, led by a Stantec engineer who worked on the project. The first phase of this $200 million project has been completed.

On Manhattan’s East River, the 2.4-mile East Side Coastal Resiliency Project—stretching from East 25th Street to Montgomery Street—represents a major engineering undertaking. It includes the reconstruction and elevation of East River Park, along with integrated flood protection systems and greatly expanded public open space at the water’s edge.

These efforts trace back to the original “Big U” proposal, another Rebuild by Design initiative aimed at protecting Lower Manhattan’s low-lying areas: from West 57th Street down to The Battery and up to East 42nd Street (forming a “U”).

In trying to make sense of the current state of affairs, several key themes stand out:

Superstorm Sandy
The devastation caused by Sandy remains the primary catalyst for today’s coastal resilience strategies. Across the region, raised promenades, floodwalls, and deployable gates are being designed to withstand storm surges comparable to those experienced in 2012.