New York Construction Report staff writer
New York City Mayor Eric Adams marked the upcoming 10-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy on Oct. 26 by breaking ground on the Brooklyn Bridge-Montgomery Coastal Resilience (BMCR) project, which will install a combination of flood walls and deployable flip-up barriers to protect the Manhattan.
“Ten years ago, flooded subways, a weeklong blackout downtown, billions in property damage, and 44 of our neighbors killed tragically showed what climate change can do to our city,” Adams said. “New York City’s infrastructure projects are more complex, novel, and unparalleled compared to any other American city, but many remain in various stages of completion, and we need our partners in the federal government to help provide us with regular and reliable resiliency funding of approximately $8.5 billion.”
“New Yorkers deserve a resilient city — one that not just recovered from Sandy, but is prepared for the impacts of the effects of the next storm,” said First Deputy Mayor Lorraine Grillo. “Tools like Progressive Design Build, which the Capital Process Reform Task Force included in its initial recommendations, are essential to our ability to build the resilient public works projects that our city needs.”
Following the ceremony, Adams announced Climate Strong Communities (CSC) and called on the federal government to create a coastal infrastructure formula funding program that will provide approximately $8.5 billion in pre-disaster mitigation grant funding to enable NYC to complete critical resiliency projects, including:
- Coney Island Creek Raise Shoreline
- Bushwick Inlet Park
- Coney Island Boardwalk & Beach
- East Harlem Coastal Resiliency
- Financial District and Seaport Climate Resilience Master Plan
- Manhattan Waterfront Greenway
- Wetlands Management Framework for New York City
- Forest Management Framework for New York City
- Tibbets Brook Daylighting Project
- Raise Shorelines 2.0
“With the addition of BMCR, DDC is rebuilding more than three continuous miles of Manhattan’s east side for resiliency and to enhance recreation areas and open spaces,” said New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) Commissioner Thomas Foley. “This is a remarkable transformation over the course of just a few years to make these communities safer and provide a higher quality of life for residents. DDC builds other resilient infrastructure all over the city, including rain gardens and storm sewers, and we’ll be on the front lines of future cloudburst projects that protect specific communities from high intensity rainstorms.
“As we look to further protect the city from climate change, capital project reform will be essential to delivering future resiliency projects with the urgency the moment calls for.”
