With the flip of a switch on Oct. 17, Mayor Eric Adams started a winch that slowly pulled a massive steel wall on wheels along a track where East 20th Street meets the East River. The gate sealed an opening in a storm barrier designed to protect some riverfront neighborhoods from future flooding.
More than a decade after Superstorm Sandy’s storm surge inundated New York’s coastal communities with several feet of water, engineers and city officials joined the mayor at a ribbon cutting for the first phase of the East Side Coastal Resiliency project, completed at a cost of $163 million.
“As one of the world’s great coastal cities, we know that stronger storms and rising seas are a threat,” Adams said. “No one knows when the next Superstorm Sandy will arrive at our doorstep, but New York City plans to be ready.”
The sunny day and relatively tranquil water of the East River stood in contrast to the unprecedented natural disaster that paralyzed parts of New York during Sandy, and put climate change policy at the forefront of city planning.
Forty-three people died when Sandy flooded 51 square miles of the five boroughs on Oct. 29, 2012. Nearly 89,000 buildings and houses were surrounded by water, stranding hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, according to a city government assessment completed after the storm. The storm surge severely affected residential apartment buildings in the East Village and on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
New York Mayor Eric Adams discusses elements of the new East River storm surge barrier with Thomas Foley, Commissioner, Department of Design and Construction (Credit: Steve Kastenbaum)
When flood gate number 13 rolled into place, it marked the opening of the first phase of the project. “Once the entire project is completed, the protective gates can be deployed when a hurricane or storm surge is headed our way, protecting lives and New Yorkers’ wallets as we safeguard property” Adams said.
City officials touted the first phase for being completed two months ahead of schedule and $10 million under budget.
“We are pioneering shoreline protection and climate change management for major North American cities, and doing it in a way that enhances recreation and enhances neighborhoods instead of just walling them in,” said Department of Design and Construction Commissioner Thomas Foley.
Delays and Controversies
The 2.5 mile section of storm barrier stretches from the Manhattan Bridge north to Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, two densely populated communities. A concrete wall, rising 9 feet above street level, stands between the East River and the FDR Drive. Several openings that allow for access to the waterfront are designed to be sealed off when necessary by movable steel gates.
The flood wall connects with East River Park, which is in the process of being raised several feet. Once completed, it will act as a berm and, in theory, hold back storm surge waters. That section of the storm barrier is scheduled to be completed in 2026, with a total cost of nearly $1.5 billion.
The project was delayed and mired in controversy after former Mayor Bill de Blasio scrapped an earlier proposal. City officials, urban planners, and climate change experts spent several years working in collaboration with community residents to reimagine the popular recreation space, officially known as John V. Lindsay East River Park.
The original design was centered on preserving parts of the park and integrating it into a broader flood mitigation design. In a blow to local community organizations, the de Blasio administration then decided that the original plan was impractical and too costly. It was replaced with the current design, which included demolishing and razing most of the park to act as an earthen flood wall.
Community organizations sued the city in an effort to stop the destruction of the park. The New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division ruled against the lawsuit, enabling the current project to proceed.
The flood wall is meant to protect over 110,000 apartments on the southeast side of Manhattan, according to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. The area includes several public housing developments. More than 28,000 low income residents were left without electricity and running water for up to a week after Superstorm Sandy hit.
Funding for the East Side Coastal Resiliency project came from a mix of city and state dollars and a storm recovery grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
