New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Aug. 27 announced $100 million in capital funding aimed at extending storm protection measures around lower Manhattan.
The plan is another of the city’s responses to the devastation that occurred in the wake of Superstorm Sandy in October 2012. It would include the addition of berms, physical barriers and parks to absorb or keep back rising water levels induced by storms.
The new plan would extend coastal protections in Manhattan from Montgomery St. in the Lower East Side around Battery Park and north up the Hudson River to the north end of Battery Park City.
Last year the city was awarded $335 million for coastal protections from East 23 St. to Montgomery St.
The city plans to put the $100 million plan out to bid in September, seeking design and engineering firms to submit detailed plans. The mayor said he is not just looking for barriers, but want to raise elevations along the coast in such a way as not to cut residents off from the water. The project is expected to take five to seven years to design and build.
The mayor hopes that the funding allocated for the newly announced project will give the city an edge in the competition to win up to $500 million in disaster prevention funding through the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development’s National Disaster Resilience Competition.