NYC starts raising Battery shoreline as part of climate plan. See the renderings of the final result.
NEW YORK -- New York City officially broke ground Monday on the Battery Coastal Resilience project, as the U.S. approaches hurricane season.
Nearly 12 years ago, a more-than-9-foot storm surge from Superstorm Sandy flooded The Battery, filling the tunnel with water, knocking out power and destroying property.
The new project aims to reduce the impact of future storms like Sandy and protect Battery Park from rising sea levels.
"We have to build a safer, stronger and more sustainable city," New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Monday. "It will project 100,000 residents, 300,000 jobs and 12,000 businesses."
How the Battery Coastal Resiliency project works
The $200 million project will elevate the stretch of shoreline by 5 feet, while ensuring waterfront access for visitors and the boats that ferry them to the Statue of Liberty.
"We're elevating the wharf, rebuilding the promenade," explained New York City Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue. "So there will still be the beautiful gardens, there will still be the access and the views for people, but it will be elevated so that we can deal with what we know is coming."
Adams said the project is a piece of the overall Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency strategy, which also involves work in the Financial and Seaport districts, the East Side and the Brooklyn Bridge/Montgomery Street area.
"The sea level rise is going to be about 5 feet in 70 years. So we had to be able to raise the elevation of the water's edge," said Michael Bradley, the project administrator with the Parks Department.
NYC taking steps toward sustainability
The project focuses on sustainability and received an award from the Institute of Sustainable Infrastructure, according to the city.
"A lot of material here is being reused on site. We've got special equipment that protects from noise and air pollution emissions related to construction," New York City's Chief Climate Officer Rohit T. Aggarwala said. "A lot of material was brought here by water, rather than by truck."
The city says using water transportation equals 2,000 fewer trucks in Lower Manhattan.
"As we start coming into this hurricane season, which the federal government has pointed out is likely to be quite severe, even though we are not done with these coastal defenses, New York is much better prepared than it was 12 years ago when Hurricane Sandy hit," said Aggarwala.
The project, and several others to shore up the city, should be completed in the next two years.
Watch CBS New York's full climate change special report, "Climate Change: Protecting Our Planet."
