Army Corps, Port of San Francisco Issue Draft Plan to Remake City’s Shoreline

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Port of San Francisco on Friday released a draft plan to remake the city’s shoreline, raising it by several feet in a bid to adapt the waterfront to the future impacts of sea level rise, reported the San Francisco Chronicle. With a $13.5-billion budget, it would be the city’s largest single infrastructure project ever. 

The goal would be to complete work by 2040 if a final report is completed next year and Congress approves the project in 2026. That would be less time than the 16 years it took to design and build the eastern span of the Bay Bridge that opened in 2013, the Chronicle reported.

“We have been in the trenches analyzing the risks for years,” Brad Benson, director of the Port of San Francisco’s Water Resilience Program, told the Chronicle. “Now we have something to show the public about how we can adapt to those risks.”

For now, the plan emphasizes work that can be done within 15 years of Congress agreeing to put the project into the federal budget. If this occurs, 65% of the costs would be covered by the Army Corps. San Francisco would be responsible for raising the additional 35%.