Rendering courtesy of Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other local officials broke ground May 6 on the Battery Coastal Resilience Project, a $200 million effort to protect Lower Manhattan from coastal storms and other impacts of climate change.

The project, which will rebuild and elevate The Battery's wharf and promenade, is expected to be completed in 2026. Its objective is to protect against projected sea level rise through the year 2100, Urbanize New York reported.

"We're building a more resilient, more sustainable city for today's New Yorkers and for generations to come, and our coastal resiliency projects are key pieces of that work," Adams said in a news release. "The Battery Coastal Resilience project will help protect Lower Manhattan from the stronger storms that climate change is bringing while ensuring that New Yorkers can still enjoy the beautiful green space and cultural icons that The Battery has come to be known for."

The latest effort is one component of the larger $1.7 billion Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency (LMCR) Project. The New York City Economic Development Corp. (NYCEDC) is managing its construction, in partnership with NYC Parks.

The other LMCR project is the $350 million Brooklyn Bridge-Montgomery Coastal Resilience effort, which began work in 2022, according to the city of New York (NYC).

Redesign of The Battery to Create Safe Barrier

The Battery has long had a legacy of open space and a changing shoreline. Today, it continues to be a special place for New Yorkers and tourists, but the wharf is in dire need of repair and a design that will meet future climate-induced challenges.

The proposed redesign of The Battery will incorporate sustainable and resilient features to help it withstand and recover from future flooding by utilizing salt-tolerant trees and plantings, an enhanced drainage system, and permeable pavers, NYC noted on the project's web page.

Among the design goals to be met are:

• Protecting The Battery from rising seas over the next 80 years.
• Accommodating passenger ferry uses.
• Preserving and enhancing the park's character and gardens.
• Creating universal accessibility for a more welcoming and accessible esplanade.
• Protecting The Battery's historic and cultural resources.

The proposed designs have been been developed to ensure that when completed, the LMCR projects will work together as a compatible, unified system, offering a consistent level of coastal flood risk reduction to Lower Manhattan.

The Battery Coastal Resilience project's final plans were completed in the fall of 2022 and preconstruction and exploratory work was finished in 2023.

NYC noted that full construction will occur through two phases of partial wharf closures to minimize disruptions to the park's activity as well as maintain wharf ferry services. Phase 1 is now under way, with the second phase slated to begin once the current work concludes in the summer of 2025.

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