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Stretch of Rockaway shoreline on Jamaica Bay needs 'aggressive repairs,' feds say
By
Liam Quigley
Published Nov 4, 2025
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By
Liam Quigley
Published Nov 4, 2025
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A mile-long bulkhead in the Rockaways has been eaten away by the churning waters of Jamaica Bay and requires "aggressive" repairs that could take five years, federal documents show.
The repair job was posted on a federal contracting website on Friday, which estimated the work will cost up to $100 million. It comes as the shoreline across the peninsula along the federally managed Jacob Riis Beach has suffered increased erosion that’s led to dangerous rip currents.
While the beachfront erosion receives most of the attention from the feds, the documents published last week show the other side of the Rockaways is also at risk. The bulkhead that must be repaired keeps the waters of Jamaica Bay from spilling over and causing floods, particularly during storm surges that increasingly threaten the area.
The repair is needed near Beach Channel Drive, and aims to extend the life of the bulkhead for a century. The current structure was built before 1940 and begins near the base of the Marine Parkway Bridge and the parking lot for Jacob Riis Park. It extends east for about 5,300 feet to roughly Beach 144th Street.
The bulkhead is made up of a wall of steel sheet metal embedded into the ground below. Over time, a patchwork of repairs and additions have been applied to the structure. Nearly a decade ago, the city spent $37 million to temporarily shore it up.
Residents say the bulkhead shields homes along Beach Channel Drive from flooding, which was severe during Sandy when water overtopped the wall.
Amanda Agoglia with the Neponsit Property Owners Association said it would be best to get it done sooner rather than later.
“It’s always very expensive with the Army Corps of Engineers,” she said, “but we need to reinforce this infrastructure.”
Philip Orton, a coastal engineering professor at Stevens Institute of Technology, said the new bulkhead would stand about 2 feet higher than the one it’s replacing.
“The existing wall is around 8-and-a-half feet above sea level, and the new design calls for a crest at about 10-and-a-half feet,” Orton said. “That’s lower than the water level during Sandy, which reached about 11 feet, but it still raises the protection and matches the city’s nearby seawall,” he said.
Army Corps divers who checked out the structure in 2023 found water seeping through and corrosion on its steel reinforcements, all early warning signs of larger problems to come. Above the water, inspectors found sinkholes over spots where the sheet pile had degraded. Erosion in some areas had left the retaining wall lacking its structural capacity.
Representatives from the National Park Service and Army Corps of Engineers did not reply to questions about the project because they are not allowed to work during the government shutdown. City officials did not answer questions about the result of previous repairs to the bulkhead.
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Liam Quigley
Liam Quigley is a reporter covering parks & sanitation for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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