New York mayor announces funding for BIG's leisure-oriented storm barrier The Dryline
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has allocated US$170m (€149m, £118m) of the city’s budget for 2017 on climate resiliency projects, including construction of Bjarke Ingels Group's leisure-oriented storm barrier The Dryline.
The money will be used to create the stormwater management infrastructure required for the Lower Manhattan project – a 12 km-long high-water barrier incorporating public space with parks, seating, bicycle shelters, sports facilities and skateboard ramps.
Elevated embankments, pop-up sea walls deployed during storms and salt-resistant vegetation will all be used to make the area more resilient to future flood events.
The Dryline – previously known as the BIG-U and officially named the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project – has received US$335m (€294m, £234m) from the federal government, with construction on the first 9km stretch is scheduled to begin next year.
Flood barriers for Lower Manhattan have been proposed a number of times over the last couple of decades, but the need was brought into sharp focus by the flooding which accompanied Hurricane Sandy in 2012, when a devastating four-metre storm surge caused more than US$19bn (€16.6bn, £13.1bn) worth of damage.
The Dryline was developed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in collaboration with Rebuild by Design – a federally-funded initiative which is part of the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
BIG are working with a substantial design and engineering team, including One Architecture, Starr Whitehouse, James Lima Planning + Development, Level Infrastructure, Burohappold, Arcadis, Green Shield Ecology, Aea Consulting, Project Projects and the School Of Constructed Environments At Parsons.
Bill de Blasio New York Bjarke Ingels Group The Dryline Manhattan East Side Coastal Resiliency Project Rebuild by Design