# New York's Insane $119BN Mega Sea Wall ![[images/New-Yorks-Insane-119BN-Mega-Sea-Wall.webp]] **Creator:** The B1M · **Published:** 2026-06-22 · **Length:** 14:57 · [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV-C2EGfocE) > Caption source: YouTube English (en-GB) manual captions via yt-dlp (default client) on the first try. YouTube chapters used for section headings. Screenshots from the 360p mp4 (format 18, android client). Host **Fred Mills**. Companion article: [Why NYC Needs a $119BN Mega Sea Wall](https://theb1m.com/video/why-nyc-needs-a-119bn-mega-sea-wall). Contains paid promotion for Odoo. Extra footage and images credited to Bjarke Ingels Group, Warner Bros., CBS News, 20th Century Studios, ABC, Lisa Lipkind, NYTimes and Natural Earth. ## Outline ### 0:00 Intro - **0:00** Fred opens with custom graphics: there are almost no official renderings of the proposed mega sea wall, so The B1M built its own. ![[images/New-Yorks-Insane-119BN-Mega-Sea-Wall-t0008.webp]] - **0:18** Starting at the **Rockaways** in Queens, the first thing a hurricane approaching Manhattan would hit is an enormous structure nearly **10 km** long stretching to a strip of land in New Jersey south of Staten Island. - **0:35** It is a **mega sea wall** — so large it needs its own classification — and one of the most controversial infrastructure projects ever proposed for New York. - **0:48** It is not the only flood defence underway; several major projects are already built or under construction because it has happened before and will be worse next time. - **1:07** This is the **$119BN** plan to save New York. ### 1:14 A city underwater? - **1:17** Submerged-skyline sci-fi tropes are familiar, but New York has been quietly retrofitting: steel doors across tunnels, mechanical floors moved to the tops of skyscrapers, and **East River Park** built **8 ft** higher than it "needed" to be. ![[images/New-Yorks-Insane-119BN-Mega-Sea-Wall-t0077.webp]] - **1:54** On **29 October 2012**, **Hurricane Sandy** made landfall. - **2:12** Flooding covered about **17%** of the city's footprint; **2.5 million** residents lost power; **35,000** were displaced; at least **286** people were killed directly or indirectly. - **2:31** Seawater poured into Lower Manhattan, frying basement electrical systems and blacking out skyscrapers. - **2:46** Damage and lost economic activity cost the city more than **$19BN**. ![[images/New-Yorks-Insane-119BN-Mega-Sea-Wall-t0171.webp]] - **2:54** Sandy exposed old systems protecting a city with critical infrastructure at or near sea level. - **3:14** The next year's **Disaster Relief Appropriations Act** tasked the **US Army Corps of Engineers** with a comprehensive answer; they produced five ideas, and the video focuses on the most radical. ### 3:40 A mega sea wall - **3:36** Not a single wall, but a series of **man-made islands with retractable gates** — a network of storm-surge barriers, floodwalls, levees and nature-based defences, anchored by **five major harbour-scale barriers** at strategic choke points. ![[images/New-Yorks-Insane-119BN-Mega-Sea-Wall-t0223.webp]] - **3:54** Designed to protect more than **25 million** people across New York City, Long Island, northern New Jersey and the Hudson Valley. - **4:03** Gates would stay open in normal conditions (ships, tides, ecosystems) and close only for extreme storms — like the **Thames Barrier** in London or Rotterdam's sea walls. - **4:38** Behind the barriers: raised seawalls and levees, flood-proofed ports and wastewater plants, elevated infrastructure, restored wetlands and oyster reefs. - **4:54** The aim is holding back catastrophic **storm surge**, not everyday flooding. #### 5:08 Sponsor: Odoo - **5:15** Fred plugs **Odoo** all-in-one business software (invoicing, accounting, project management, inventory, websites) and its **eSign** app with drag-and-drop fields and automatic reminders; first app free for life; complies with e-signature standards in 100+ countries. ### 6:41 Back to New York — supporters and critics - **6:45** Inside the mega-wall's borders would sit much of Manhattan, including the **Statue of Liberty**. - **6:51** Supporters liked how far offshore it sat: maximum people and property protected without spoiling sea views. - **7:01** Critics called it blunt: it addresses surge, not high tides or storm runoff tied to sea-level rise, and could trap sewage and toxins in the harbours. - **7:25** The **Natural Resources Defense Council** warned that combined sewer overflows could be trapped and pushed back toward shore; currents in the **Hudson** could harm marine life. - **7:49** Engineering bar is extreme: category-3 hurricanes, sea-level rise through **2100**, ice, debris, shipping impacts and redundancy. - **8:06** Needs sign-off from New York City, New York State and New Jersey (expected to cover **35%** of cost); **65%** needs Congress; build time about **25 years**. - **8:37** Opponents say the Corps' future sea-level estimates are too low; the Corps says the design could be modified. - **8:48** The other four Corps options were smaller waterway walls or shore-based projects — none as all-encompassing. ![[images/New-Yorks-Insane-119BN-Mega-Sea-Wall-t0442.webp]] ### 9:13 A new $50BN plan - **9:10** Thousands objected; after hearings, a decision waited until **2022**. - **9:19** The **New York–New Jersey Harbor and Tributaries Study** (a decade of modelling) produced a revised plan: roughly **$50–53BN** instead of $119BN, broken into smaller segments — dozens of kilometres of shoreline barriers and about a dozen storm-surge gates (**Alternative 3B**). - **9:59** Construction hoped to start in **2030** and take about a **decade** instead of 25 years. - **10:06** Priority is nearer-term measures (including **12 movable barriers** at major tidal straits and creeks, plus floodwalls, seawalls, levees and elevated promenades) that can proceed without waiting for full federal funding for the mega-barrier. ### 10:44 What's happening right now - **10:43** **Battery Park** (southern tip of Manhattan): multi-billion flood resilience with sea walls, barriers and a raised park sized for up to **6 ft** of sea-level rise by **2100**. ![[images/New-Yorks-Insane-119BN-Mega-Sea-Wall-t0647.webp]] - **11:08** The **Climate Exchange** on **Governors Island** includes flood resilience and an AI system monitoring storm surges. - **11:18** On the Lower East Side, the **East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR)** project by **Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)** reshapes ~**3.8 km** of East River edge from Montgomery Street to East 25th Street into a continuous flood-protection landscape. ![[images/New-Yorks-Insane-119BN-Mega-Sea-Wall-t0699.webp]] - **11:57** Cost about **$1.45BN** — among the city's largest climate-resilience investments — aiming to shield over **110,000** residents plus the **FDR Drive** and key utilities. - **12:15** Elevated green islands, promenades, sports fields and deployable flood gates preserve views and water access when not in use. - **12:44** Centrepiece **East River Park** is being rebuilt **2.5–3 m** higher; large sections demolished and rebuilt; thousands of mature trees removed, stored and replanted; construction from **2021** through the mid-2020s in phases. ![[images/New-Yorks-Insane-119BN-Mega-Sea-Wall-t0754.webp]] ![[images/New-Yorks-Insane-119BN-Mega-Sea-Wall-t0813.webp]] - **13:22** ESCR marks a shift from emergency response alone toward redesigning urban landscapes to live with water. ### 13:30 Along came Mannahatta - **13:37** Even so, New York still floats audacious ideas: **Mannahatta**, proposed by a Rutgers economics professor — an entirely new borough dredged from the sea for flood relief and more land amid sky-high property prices. Still firmly on the drawing board. ![[images/New-Yorks-Insane-119BN-Mega-Sea-Wall-t0872.webp]] - **14:06** Nearly **58%** of the global urban population lives in coastal cities; as storms intensify and seas rise, mega sea walls may become normal. - **14:20** A smaller solution is paving the way for now, but that **$119BN** wall across New York is still in the pipeline. ## Things mentioned ### Projects and plans - US Army Corps of Engineers harbour mega sea wall (~$119BN, ~10 km, ~25-year build) - New York–New Jersey Harbor and Tributaries Study / Alternative 3B (~$50–53BN) - Thames Barrier (London) and Rotterdam sea walls (comparisons) - Battery Park flood resilience - Governors Island Climate Exchange - East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) / East River Park rebuild (~$1.45BN, BIG) - Mannahatta (proposed new borough) ### Places - Rockaways (Queens), Staten Island, New Jersey shore - Lower Manhattan, East River, Hudson River, FDR Drive - Long Island, Hudson Valley - Statue of Liberty / Liberty Island ### Events and figures - Hurricane Sandy (29 Oct 2012): ~17% of city flooded; 2.5M without power; 35,000 displaced; ≥286 deaths; >$19BN cost - Disaster Relief Appropriations Act (year after Sandy) - Target construction start ~2030 for Alternative 3B ### Organisations and people - US Army Corps of Engineers - Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) - Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) - Fred Mills (host) - Odoo (sponsor) ### Products / sponsors - Odoo (all-in-one management suite; eSign; first app free for life) - Fred's book *MEGA BUILDS* (end-card promo) ## Biographies ### Fred Mills Founder and face of **The B1M**, a construction and infrastructure YouTube channel. Hosts this episode from the studio and also promotes his book *MEGA BUILDS*. ### US Army Corps of Engineers Federal engineering agency tasked after Sandy (via the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act) to study how to protect the New York–New Jersey harbour region; authored the five-option study that included the radical harbour-scale barrier system later revised in the Harbor and Tributaries Study. ### Bjarke Ingels / BIG Danish architect and his firm **Bjarke Ingels Group**, designers of the East Side Coastal Resiliency landscape that folds flood protection into parks and public space along Manhattan's East River.