The Rockaways get $145M investment to help protect it from future storms

In conjunction with the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a host of projects that would protect different parts of the Rockaways from future such storms. These storm-protection efforts were largely made possible by leftover federal funds.

FEMA had allocated $480 million toward the Rockaway Boardwalk project. The city ended up saving $120 million on those efforts, and asked FEMA if those funds could go toward other relief efforts. FEMA approved, and the city added in an additional $25 million to create a $145 million fund for the Rockaways.

“New York is building this kind of smart infrastructure to fight climate change and inequality at the same time, so future generations will inherit a city that's more resilient and just,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement about the resiliency efforts.

These efforts will first get underway at Bayswater Park, according to the New York Daily News. The city will install a berm along the waterfront to manage stormwater, and create a new sports field, a public plaza, and new comfort stations as part of the overall project.

Other planned projects include raising the shoreline around the Edgemere neighborhood; creating six new recreational facilities on Shore Front Parkway to replace the ones lost during Hurricane Sandy; and creating a new park at Beach 88th Street with a new seawall and restored wetlands to protect against flooding. The city will host public scoping hearings on these projects in the spring and summer of 2018.

The work at Bayswater Park will take about three years to wrap up, and all the other projects will take up to six years, according to NYDN.

• De Blasio announces plan to spend $145M on parks that will protect Rockaways from flooding [NYDN]
• All the Hurricane Sandy Coverage [Curbed]