BY BOB TRENTLYON | What a great surprise, New York State has a spare $5 billion! This money is sorely needed for infrastructure, education, health programs and more, but as the New York Times urged in an editorial on January 15, 2015, this sum should not be used just for ongoing programs, but “for focused, one- shot investments that can bring tangible relief to as many New Yorkers as possible.”
My nomination for a vital one-shot investment is a study of Storm Surge Barriers by the Army Corps of Engineers. This would cost a little more than $5 million dollars and take five years to prepare. It is certain that other major hurricanes will hit this region. Sandy cost the region over $80 billion and there is still much damage in need of repair. Why not build the storm surge barriers between the Rockaways and Sandy Hook and at Throggs Neck? SSBs have worked very successfully around the world and in our area at Stamford, CN, New Bedford, MA, and Providence, RI. Barriers are a very good idea, but no one seems willing to spend the $15 billion to build them at this time.
If the city’s current plans for controlling storm surges don’t work (and many knowledgeable people claim that they are not sufficient), NYC may then want to try storm surge barriers. But without a completed study by the Corps of Engineers already in hand, the city would have to delay construction for five years, thus leaving the city vulnerable. To go back to the NYT quote, I can’t think of any better use of $5 million “that can bring tangible relief to as many New Yorkers as possible.”
