"Adaptation Costs" Illustrated: Rockaway NY Boardwalk Rebuilt, Upgraded; $70 Million/Mile

ROCKAWAY PENINSULA, N.Y. — Beachgoers in this New York City oasis can now flip-flop along a fully rebuilt boardwalk, one that reflects a coastal reimagination underway along the Mid-Atlantic and that heralds the staggering costs ahead of adapting to a changing climate.

Rockaway Beach, where a holiday getaway at the southern edge of Queens long ago transformed into a dense neighborhood, had its wooden boardwalk shredded by Hurricane Sandy. The homes behind it were crushed by a storm surge and inundated with floodwaters. Eight died here.

Nearly five years later, the wooden walkway has been replaced by more than five miles of sand-toned concrete atop 50 million pounds of sandbags and a retaining wall that holds in place new sand dunes. It is meant to help protect residents and residences from storm surges. The boardwalk and dunes were built at a cost of $70 million a mile, with the final segment of beachfront walkway put in place last month.

“When Hurricane Sandy came, it lifted the whole boardwalk,” said Kylie Murphy, the city parks department’s project manager. “In some areas the whole thing was just demolished; it was gone. So we were really starting from scratch.” The replacement of a venerable wooden walkway with a lattice of rigid and sandy flood protection structures is emblematic of how planners are rethinking coastal infrastructure in a vulnerable region. Seas along the New York coastline have risen by about a foot during the past century. Warming has melted ice and expanded ocean water, currents have shifted, and geological processes have caused land to sink. That extra sea level exacerbated Sandy’s heavy toll.

EDIT

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/new-york-boardwalk-climate-adaptation-21506