Boston is facing a stark choice: spend $10 billion now to fortify its waterfront against climate-driven flooding, or risk more than five times that amount in damages over the coming decades. That is the takeaway from a long-awaited draft study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is recommending a sweeping suite of 20 infrastructure projects stretching across East Boston, Charlestown, downtown, South Boston, and Dorchester. The proposals include levees, floodwalls, and berms along 16 miles of vulnerable coastline, and city officials are framing the price tag as the largest investment in Boston’s waterfront in generations.
Brian Swett, Boston’s chief climate officer, acknowledged that the number is eye-popping but said doing nothing would be far worse. The Army Corps estimates that without action, Boston could see $54 billion in flooding damages between 2040 and 2090, a figure the city’s Office of Climate Resilience considers conservative. Already, so-called sunny day flooding is becoming routine, and with rising seas and stronger storms, roughly 40 percent of residents live in areas at risk before the century’s end. Every dollar spent on prevention, the Corps estimates, could save four dollars in avoided losses.
The study, four years into a six-year effort, will qualify Boston for federal funding covering 65 percent of project costs, with Congress expected to consider funding in batches every two years. The remainder would come from state, city, and private sources. While a federal funding pause last year stalled Army Corps projects elsewhere, Swett said Boston’s study was already paid for and he remains confident about future congressional approval.
City officials also see an opportunity beyond mere protection. In Dorchester, for instance, the Army Corps recommends a levee through Moakley Park that could be integrated into plans already underway for sports fields and community gathering spaces. Mayor Michelle Wu said safeguarding neighborhoods from climate change requires broad collaboration, and Lieutenant Colonel David MacPhail of the Army Corps echoed that local input will shape how the infrastructure ultimately takes form. Public comment on the draft opens July 24 and runs through September 18.