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New York City’s new elevated waterfront – in pictures

This article is more than 1 year old

Nearly 13 years after Hurricane Sandy flooded lower Manhattan, the first section of East River Park, designed to withstand storm surges, opens

Manhattan’s newly raised East River Park, under the Williamsburg Bridge, seen here on 5 June. Photograph: Tobias Everke/Guardian

Tobias Everke

Mon 16 Jun 2025 10.00 EDT

Last modified on Mon 20 Jul 2026 17.36 EDT

Children playing on grassy verge — This spring, New York officials opened the first sections of the $1.45bn East Side Coastal Resiliency project. Stretching 2.4 miles (3.9km) along the Lower East Side of Manhattan, it’s part of the largest urban climate-adaptation project in the United StatesPhotograph: Tobias Everke/Guardian
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Man jogging under bridge — The project was conceived in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, which sent storm surges as high as 14ft (4 metres) into Lower ManhattanPhotograph: Tobias Everke/Guardian
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Artistic, curved concrete wall — Main features include storm walls, berms and thick steel floodgates, all built to protect lower Manhattan from future floodsPhotograph: Tobias Everke/Guardian
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Old lady in a wheelchair and carer sit by the river enjoying the view. — ‘The whole idea was to use the park as the “wall” that would protect the community behind it, but also give the community new access to a park they could enjoy,’ said Amy Chester, director of Rebuild by Design, a New York-based non-profit that worked with city and federal officials on the projectPhotograph: Tobias Everke/Guardian
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A boy with a ball walks through the open sliding steel flood gate — At Asser Levy Recreation Center, a thick, steel floodgate on wheels can close in response to flooding, forming a continuous protective wall against surgesPhotograph: Tobias Everke/Guardian
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Flood level markings near the tennis courts where people are playing tennis — At more than 16ft tall, this gate is designed to withstand surges far higher than what Sandy broughtPhotograph: Tobias Everke/Guardian
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woman sat on a bench reading with flood defences behind her — From within the park, plants and foliage disguise much of the floodwallPhotograph: Tobias Everke/Guardian
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Old meets new. The old edge to the East River on the left and the new, raised water-wall on the right. — Engineers raised the water’s edge by several feet. Here, a raised water wall abuts a section of East River Park that has not yet been updatedPhotograph: Tobias Everke/Guardian
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View of the walkway and bridge from the FDR highway — Officials built new pedestrian walkways over the FDR highway; the Delancey Street Bridge, seen here, was manufactured in Italy and installed in one dayPhotograph: Tobias Everke/Guardian
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People playing basketball under the bridge — The new John V Lindsay East River Park features tennis and basketball courtsPhotograph: Tobias Everke/Guardian
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Children playing in water fountain areas of the park with water pistols — The park sits across from thousands of units of low- and middle-income public housingPhotograph: Tobias Everke/Guardian
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Man cooking food on a barbecue while friends sit on a table awaiting food — The competition to select the park’s design ‘was extremely collaborative with community’, Chester saidPhotograph: Tobias Everke/Guardian
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Construction area of the Eastside Coastal Resiliency Plan — Construction on other sections of the East Side Coastal Resiliency project remains ongoing, with the project slated for completion in 2026Photograph: Tobias Everke/Guardian
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Seating area by the east river with Brooklyn in the background — ‘The project could have just been a wall that cut the community off from the waterfront,’ Chester said. ‘However, this is a project that brings the community to the water’Photograph: Tobias Everke/Guardian
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