DESCRIPTION: Highlands is located on the shoreline of Sandy Hook Bay and the Shrewsbury River approximately 20 miles south of Manhattan, New York. Its “working waterfront” is lined with marinas, docks, piers, and a ferry terminal that serves many businesses throughout the northeast and provides mass transportation for commuters to New York City. Access to the waterfront is critical to the
Borough’s economy. Large-scale flood risk management structures that could improve use of the waterfront have not been built. Because of this, the Borough is highly susceptible to flooding. Most homes and businesses in Highlands are located in the relatively low-lying downtown area extending from the shoreline to Shore Drive. The land is generally at an elevation lower than +10 feet (ft) North American Vertical Data of 1988 (NAVD88).The Highlands study area, about 0.7 square miles in extent, located at the eastern limit of the overall Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook Bay study area and is bordered to the north by Sandy Hook Bay, to the west by the corporate limits of Atlantic Highlands, and to the east by the Shrewsbury River and Route 36 bridge. The Borough of Highlands is located in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Highlands is generally about 2,000 feet wide, and its topography is flat for about 1,500 feet onshore from the bay, after which the ground rises rapidly. This is a fully developed community with most year-round residences and commercial establishments located on the low-lying area along the bay. Highlands has a history of devastating flood damages. Approximately 880 residential, trailer home, apartment, and commercial structures are subject to severe flooding with approximately 670 located below 9 feet NAVD. Many low-lying roadways are flooded during severe storm events, cutting off access to large portions of Highlands. This area was devastated by Superstorm Sandy.
AUTHORIZATION: The completed study was authorized by a resolution of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation, U.S. House of Representatives, adopted August 1, 1990. Subsequent funding and authorization were provided via P.L. 113-2, The Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013. The project was authorized for construction under the Water Resources Development Act of 2020 that was enacted on December 27, 2020.
Local Sponsor: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Project Partners: Borough of Highlands
STATUS: In response to the flooding from back-to-back December 1992 Nor’easters, Congress funded the Corps to conduct a reconnaissance study of the Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook Bay Communities. In March 1993, the Corps issued a favorable Reconnaissance Study and in May 2000 issued a favorable Pre-Feasibility Report recommending that a feasibility study be conducted. The State of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection concurred with the Corps recommendations and signed a Feasibility Cost Sharing Agreement (FCSA) on August 1, 2001 to cost share the feasibility study. The draft feasibility report has been completed and released to the public on 17 July 2015 and the comment period closed on 31 August 2015. The tentatively selected plan has been optimized and the report completed. The project spans a geographic distance of approximately 8,000 linear feet along the coast of the Borough of Highlands (Highlands) and ties into high ground (+14 ft NAVD88) at each end. Because the project follows the actual perimeter of the shoreline, its total length of the floodwall 10,737 linear ft. The project includes a detention pond, diversion culverts, raised ground surfaces, floodwall, floodgate and a pump station for interior drainage. The Chief’s Report was approved on 25 August 2020. Project was appropriated funding under the BIL and DRSAA supplementals in 2020.
Several public outreach meetings were held in 2024 to update the borough on the direction of the project. The Borough of Highlands undertook a referendum vote on 5 November 2024. The majority of voting Borough residents opposed the Project, and the Borough formally rejected the Project by way of a Resolution No. 24-222 dated December 18, 2024. Absent local government support for the Project, NJDEP can no longer serve as the non-federal sponsor. Accordingly, NJDEP requested that USACE formally terminate the Project in a letter sent to the New York District on 30 December 2024. The project is officially terminated as of January 2025.
CONTACT:
Bethany McClanahan PE, CFM
Project Manager
P: (917) 790-8426
Email: bethany.m.mcclanahan@usace.army.mil
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District
Programs and Project Management Division, Civil Works Branch
26 Federal Plaza
New York, NY 10278
CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: NJ-06