Dive Brief:

• Sweden-based construction giant Skanska has scored a third contract installment — this one worth $64 million — with the New York City Economic Development Corp. to reconstruct six miles of Rockaway Beach Boardwalk destroyed by Superstorm Sandy in 2012, according to Commercial Property Executive. The NYCEDC issued a $202 million contract in 2014 for Skanska to start the boardwalk project and another in 2015 for $57 million worth of additional work.
• The new boardwalk, built with a steel-reinforced concrete deck affixed to steel pipe support piles elevated above the 100-year flood plain, is designed to withstand storms, CPE reported. A system of concrete retaining walls and planted dunes will be placed beneath the boardwalk to keep sand in place. 
• The work, to be completed in phases, is scheduled for completion by Memorial Day 2017; however, 4.7 miles of the boardwalk will be open to the public by summer 2016.

Dive Insight:

The Federal Emergency Management Administration gave New York City $500 million in May of last year to fund the boardwalk and other storm mitigation projects in the Rockaway area, which was hit especially hard by Sandy.

At the time, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, "The boardwalk is central to this community’s history and identity — and the new boardwalk will be a symbol of the Rockaways’ strength and resiliency."

Hurricane Sandy caused an estimated $69 billion of damage and nearly 60 deaths along coastal New York and New Jersey, and, according to a City of New York report, the storm flooded 51 square miles of the city and damaged approximately 800 commercial and residential buildings.

The severity of the flooding caused FEMA to redraw the floodplain maps — which insurance companies, mortgage lenders and state and city planners use to determine the possibility for flooding — with a more inclusive hand. In fact, the new maps place 80% more New York City homes and businesses in flood zones — a costly distinction, as those property owners have seen their insurance premiums skyrocket.

New York City, however, has come up with its own floodplain maps that it says is more representative of the area’s flooding risks and is in the process of challenging the FEMA maps. The New York City map would remove approximately 26,000 structures and 170,000 residents from flood zones

New York City is not the only locality challenging the maps. Others include the Massachusetts towns of Marshfield, Scituate and Duxbury; Palm Beach County, FL; Bethany Beach, DE; New Orleans and Belvedere, CA.