Friday, July 13, 2018

Barriers proposed for NY Harbor


From WNYC:

In a series of public information sessions this week, the Army Corps is presenting five options for protecting the area's waterfront, four of which involve storm surge barriers:

- a five-mile long barrier at the southernmost border of the lower bay, between Sandy Hook, N.J., and Breezy Point in the Rockaways;
- a smaller barrier between Staten Island and Brooklyn, across the channel that the Verrazzano-Narrows bridge spans, accompanied by gates across the mouth to Jamaica Bay and Arthur Kill;
- a series of berms and sea walls along low-lying portions of the New Jersey and New York City waterfront, along with small gates across some waterways;
- and an option that would only use berms and sea walls.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's to accommodate all these developments in flood zones. So us taxpayers pay for those foolish high risers along the waterfront.
Welcome to the big rotten REBNY Apple.

JQ LLC said...

These barriers aren't going to do damn thing. But it's damn obvious that this was demanded by the real estate overlords for their tower resident turds.

Charles Witek said...

To be fair, it's not only being driven by the real estate folks.

This is what the Army Corps does: Try to convince folks to engage in huge, m ulti-year, mega-dollars projects that cause significant harm to natural processes but allow the Corps to justify its budget and headcount.

Whether we're talking about pointless sand pumping on barrier beaches, that disappears in the next storm, beach hardening that actually results in the loss of sand and beachfront right up to the base of the seawall, and eventually undercuts the seawall, too (see "Dirtbag Beach" in Montauk for a minor example) or dredging Florida harbors and smothering coral reefs with the silt, the Corps is known for big-budget, environnmenatally-harmful projects that ignore natural processes and try to muscle the ocean into submission, with a notable lack of long-term success.

But when nobody much is building new coastal forts these days, they had to find something to do to stay in business.

Anonymous said...

Right! Those barriers will do nothing but cost taxpayers a bundle and line the pockets of the connected contractors. It won't stop Mother Nature. They will impede recreational boat traffic however and maybe create boat traffic jams like all thoroughfares in New York..That could force people from not building in these zones that will once again be flooded by storm surges and hurricanes. Lotsa luck!

Anonymous said...

Nothing will be built unless New York State and City agree to cost-share the project with the federal government. The Corps can recommend and propose but the State has to say yes or no. Also, the state has agree to maintain the structures for the next 50 years.

Anonymous said...

Let Trump build it! Keep him busy away from tweeting.

Anonymous said...

You mean they will replace the white stone that made Whitestone famous but was blown up for navigation? So, how then will all the ferries get about? This is what is wrong with the liberals, everything is just like one of those cute little school projects they try to impress the titchulas with. Nothing has to really work. It's all about getting the grade for EFFORT!