Mayor Bill de Blasio announced USD 170 million has been allocated from the 2017 city budget for the climate resiliency plan of New York City. The funding will be used for the construction of stormwater management infrastructure. The East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (Dryline) will create flood protection infrastructure spanning from Montgomery Street to East 23rd Street. Construction is set to start in 2017 on the project, which has received USD 335 million from the US Federal Government. The New York City budget has allocated an additional USD 170 million for construction of storm water management infrastructure that compliments the Dryline.

The Dryline will protect Manhattan from catastrophic flooding such as the 4-meter storm surge of Superstorm Sandy in 2012, and will expand public space along the waterfront. The design team led by the Danish architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) envisions the integration of flood safety with recreational spaces that will be accessible to city residents.

The public zones include bike paths, a sloping berm (raised embankment) and new bridges – as well as pop-up sea walls, possibly deployed only during storms. Salt-resistant vegetation will be used to make the area more resilient to future flood events.

The budget also allocates a further USD 27.5 million for the Two Bridges section of the Lower Manhattan Protect and Connect flood protection system, which already has secured USD 176 million from the US Federal government and another USD 100 million from the city. This portion of the integrated urban resiliency plan focuses specifically on preparing the tip of Manhattan for a future storm, and goes beyond storm management alone and also invests in housing resiliency including the many New York City Housing Authority public buildings.