Staten Island seawall project underway as officials mark 12th Hurricane Sandy anniversary

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A long-awaited coastal resiliency project finally got underway Monday in South Beach as officials marked the 12th anniversary of Hurricane Sandy’s devastation of Staten Island.

The massive storm ravaged the Island‘s East Shore when it made landfall Oct. 29, 2012, and its aftermath advanced the East Shore Seawall, a $2.3 billion project for which Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/South Brooklyn) led Monday’s groundbreaking.

“Today we gather to remember one of the most defining and challenging moments in our community’s history, the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy,” Malliotakis, who served in the State Assembly at the time of the storm, said. “We are proud to stand here — colleagues from both parties, from all levels of government — to tell the community that the next anniversary will be commemorated with the ongoing construction of the first phase of the Staten Island Coastal Storm Risk Management Project.”

While commonly known as the East Shore Seawall, the official name for the project is the South Shore of Staten Island Coastal Storm Risk Management Project, and is being led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

A host of federal, city and state officials joined Malliotakis for Monday’s groundbreaking, including State Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton (D-North Shore/Southern Brooklyn), Assemblyman Charles Fall (D-North Shore/Brooklyn/Lower Manhattan), Assemblyman Michael Reilly (R-South Shore), Assemblyman Michael Tannousis (R-East Shore/South Brooklyn), Assemblyman Sam Pirozzolo (R-Mid-Island), and Councilman David Carr (R-Mid-Island/South Brooklyn).

Representatives from the offices of Borough President Vito Fossella, Councilman Joseph Borelli (R-South Shore), and Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks (D-North Shore) were also present.

South Beach Civic Association President Joseph McAllister recalled the storm that claimed the lives of 24 people on the Island and caused millions in damage.

Here’s What The Project Will Entail

The main portion of the project, a 4.5-mile buried seawall from Fort Wadsworth to Oakwood, has yet to get underway, but Monday’s groundbreaking for an interior drainage portion of the project marked a major milestone.

McAllister said the groundbreaking marked a significant step in a project long-sought by members of his community.

“It‘s taken time, but we know when it‘s done, it‘s going to be done right the first time,” he said. “For decades, for centuries it’s going to still be here in place.”

Talk of the project dates back at least to a series of coastal storms in the 1950s, but the federal government first authorized a feasibility study for a coastal storm risk management project along the Island’s coast in 1993.

Motivation for the project was insufficient until Hurricane Sandy decimated the Island’s East Shore in 2012, and the seawall received its initial funding in 2016.

Since then, the project has faced delays over a variety of issues, including design conflicts among officials, and environmental remediation needed near Great Kills Park.

Malliotakis, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), working with other officials, have been able to get the project back on track in recent years.

“As Superstorm Sandy made all too painfully clear, Staten Island’s homeowners, schools, hospitals and businesses need protection against coastal storms that are becoming more frequent and powerful, and that’s why I have fought so hard to deliver federal funding, interagency coordination, and forward momentum for the Staten Island Seawall, one of the most complicated infrastructure projects in the country,” Schumer said in an emailed statement. “I am so pleased that we are finally getting shovels in the ground now for the first construction contract. Piece by piece, brick by brick, we will build this seawall so that Staten Island’s communities can be fully protected against future storms.”

Anthony Ciorra, chief of coastal and special projects for the Army Corps’ New York District, said he believes a groundbreaking for the actual seawall will be ready in about three years, and that the entire project will be underway by 2030.

In June, the Army Corps awarded the contract for the $133 million project launched Monday to Triumph Construction, a Bronx-based company.

The project will focus on stormwater drainage around South Beach, and is expected to be complete by 2028. It will tie into a city Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) bluebelt being built in the area.

A similar project that will tie into the New Creek Bluebelt between Midland Beach and Dongan Hills is expected to start in 2028, according to the Army Corps. Additional interior drainage projects will be placed in the other neighborhoods protected by the seawall.

The Army Corps expects construction on the seawall to start in 2028 on the portion running from Oakwood Beach through Miller Field, which will see a new promenade constructed in that area.

Construction on the rest of the seawall from Midland Beach to Fort Wadsworth is expected to get underway in 2029.

The latter portion of the seawall will see the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Boardwalk from Miller Field to Fort Wadsworth replaced with a new boardwalk about 23 feet above sea level.

The final portion of the entire project will run along Great Kills Park from the shore to Hylan Boulevard and is comprised of a a levee, floodwall and road closure gate. The Army Corps expects that to be underway by 2030.

“It‘s not a cliche to say that this truly is a joint effort that cannot succeed without the support of all levels of government,” Ciorra said. “We will continue to push forward as quickly as we can to start construction of these projects.”