The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are seeking public comment on an interim report that is a milestone in developing a comprehensive flood-mitigation strategy for the state’s extensive back bay areas.
The Army Corps’ New Jersey Back Bays Coastal Storm Risk Management interim report released yesterday will inform decisions on strategies to protect communities and ecosystems through structural, non-structural and ecological solutions.
The study area includes approximately 950 square miles and nearly 3,400 miles of shoreline. The objective of the study is to investigate problems and solutions to reduce damages from coastal flooding that affect population, critical infrastructure, property, and ecosystems.
Some of the alternatives under consideration include structural solutions such as storm surge barriers, tide gates, levees, and floodwalls; non-structural solutions such as elevation of homes; and nature-based features such as marsh restoration and the creation of living shorelines.
The study, being cost-shared by the DEP and federal government, was developed out of the Army Corps’ North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study, which was undertaken after Hurricane Sandy.
USACE will host a webinar on the report on March 14 from 9 to 10 a.m. The general public and stakeholders are invited to provide comments by April 1, 2019.