Shrewsbury River Basin, Sea Bright, NJ Feasibility Study

Project Background  

The residents and businesses in Sea Bright have sustained repeated flood damage from coastal storms such as nor’easters, tropical storms, and hurricanes since the borough’s settlement in the early 1840s.  Due to the geography, topography, and the effects of relative sea level rise the people, economy, and culture of the Borough of Sea Bright are at increasing risk of flood damage from coastal storms.  The downtown area is the most populated area of Sea Bright and has the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the tidally-influenced Shrewsbury and Navesink Rivers to the west. The relatively low land is frequently inundated by back bay flooding from the Shrewsbury River.  

The Shrewsbury River Basin, Sea Bright, New Jersey, Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study 

The purpose of the current feasibility study is to investigate potential coastal storm risk reduction solutions for the Borough of Sea Bright.  USACE considered a range of structural and nonstructural measures that could potentially reduce flood damages in downtown Sea Bright. Through an iterative plan formulation process, potential coastal storm risk reduction measures were identified, evaluated, and compared. The tentatively selected plan as presented in the draft feasibility report is a risk reduction project that is technically sound, economically justified, and environmentally acceptable.  

The tentatively selected plan recommended in the report includes the elevation of up to 34 structures, and use of a deployable ringwall around 2 structures. This proposed alternative will reduce flood damages from coastal storms. It will also contribute to National Economic Development and will not contribute to environmental impacts to the coastal landscape.  

Due to a lack of non-federal support for the tentatively selected plan, the feasibility study has been terminated as of 10 August 2019.

For further information about this study please read the Project Fact Sheet or contact the project manager:
Mr. David Gentile
Project Manager
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District
Phone: (917) 790-8483
E-mail: David.T.Gentile@usace.army.mil
26 Federal Plaza
New York, NY 10278-0090