The reconstructed playing fields and green spaces of East River Park have been raised up several feet to better resist flooding.
Photographer: Barrett Doherty
New York City Rebuilds a Waterfront Park to Hold Back Rising Seas
After a $1.45 billion makeover, East River Park promises to use massive sea walls and earthen berms to protect Lower Manhattan from flooding. But for how long?
Along Manhattan’s East River, visitors have flocked to the gently rolling topography of a new park landscape. As they stroll or bike along a riverside esplanade, they also encounter high concrete walls and massive floodgates — reminders that this new waterfront space is also a critical line of defense against the extreme weather that will be in New York City’s future.
The East River Park, which began opening in the summer of 2025, is the largest phase — and the key public amenity — of the 2.4-mile East Side Coastal Resiliency project, a gargantuan civil engineering enterprise configured to protect a large swath of Manhattan’s Lower East Side from the effects of a warming planet: storm surges, sea level rise, and runoff from more frequent torrential rains.