The future of a $148 million coastal flood wall in Highlands, N.J., proposed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and primarily funded federally, remains uncertain weeks after it faced strong local opposition . More than three-quarters of the city’s voters, concerned about its effect on property taxes and the potential use of eminent domain for construction, rejected the plan, which was placed on their state ballots on Dec. november
But work on a separate, estimated $300 million flood protection program in nearby Port Monmouth is moving forward with the agency’s award late last month of a $62 million final construction contract.
The proposed 14-foot-tall Highlands floodwall would be about 10,737 feet long because it was designed to follow the perimeter of the shoreline, says corps spokesman James D’Ambrosio. The project also includes a detention pond, diversion culverts, raised land surfaces, a road closure gate and a pumping station for internal drainage, he adds.
The reinforced concrete structure was originally supposed to cost $13 million for residents of the flood-prone area. When Hurricane Sandy hit the area in 2012, more than 83 percent of homes in the district sustained damage, NJ Advance Media reported. During an October update meeting in Highlands, state officials said Congress approved $128 million in federal infrastructure act funding for the project.
The Corps now awaits a decision from the NJ Department of Environmental Protection “to determine the next course of action for the project,” D’Ambrosio adds. A future municipal government could vote to move the wall forward, media speculate, but the department declined to comment and Highlands Borough Mayor Carolyn Broullon could not be reached for comment.
Corps and New Jersey officials “will determine if the funds can be used elsewhere in the state,” according to D’Ambrosio.
Meanwhile, the Corps of Engineers announced late last month the final contract award for the nearly $62 million Port Monmouth Storm Risk Reduction Project, which will include flood walls along the city’s Highway 36, along with drainage systems, levees and road closures. gates to protect against storm surges and rising sea levels.
The contract awardee is Anselmi & De Cicco Inc., described as a small business in Maplewood, NJ. The estimated completion of the project is December 2026.
The project is part of a larger regional coastal resilience effort, estimated at $300 million, fully funded by the Corps and set to be completed in 2028. It will include extensive beach replenishment, wetland mitigation, tidal gates, seawalls of concrete, elevated roads and internal drainage improvements. that will involve 7,070 feet of levees, 3,585 feet of flood walls and 240 feet of dunes, the agency says.
New Jersey’s push for infrastructure resiliency comes in a state with nearly 130 miles of mostly developed coastline, the third-fastest rising temperatures among U.S. states and a total of FEMA-recorded flood losses which is second only to Texas, according to statistics.
Noting that insurers are “waking up to the reality now” of the risks of climate change in New Jersey, department commissioner Shawn LaTourette told an ENR infrastructure conference earlier this year that “they have to ‘be convinced that [it] it remains a safe bet”.
