Flooding will grow increasingly common as sea levels rise. Photo: CLF
Before the end of the twenty-first century, it is estimated that 88,000 Bostonians will be exposed to coastal or river flooding during a 1% annual chance storm (often called a “100-year storm”). Coastal flooding and storm surges already invite kayakers onto the wharves, shut down the Blue Line, and makes many other areas of the city impassable to pedestrians, cyclists, and motor vehicles.
To prevent this, the City of Boston has dedicated significant time, financial, and political resources to develop Climate Ready Boston and the Coastal Resilience Solutions Plans.
How Do These Plans Work?
These plans identify preferred strategies for keeping Boston’s coastal neighborhoods safe from flood risks, in alignment with shared principles around local involvement in design and decision making, and they have multiple benefits that reduce hazards while creating open space. A protection strategy for East Boston along Route 1A and Chelsea Creek includes coastal restoration areas and a 12’ wide multi-use trail, enhancing waterfront experiences and water quality while incorporating a flood protection berm.
So What’s the Problem?
Implementing all of these plans will run into the billions. In an effort to find other sources of funding, Boston is collaborating with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to come up with a comprehensive plan for our coastline. This Coastal Storm Risk Management Plan follows a specific process, which would make all of the identified projects eligible for up to 65% federal funding.
At the beginning of the collaboration, the Army Corps promised to build on the strategies identified in Climate Ready Boston and the neighborhood coastal resilience plans. Today, the plan looks very different and doesn’t include many projects that have benefits beyond flood protection.
It also doesn’t reflect community input. More than 2,000 residents, dozens of city and government officials, and Community Advisory Boards contributed their thoughts, ideas, and opinions during the Climate Ready Boston planning process, which spanned nearly a decade. Over the last year, far fewer people participated in the public process led by the Army Corps. This is important, because this plan will dictate what our waterfront looks and feels like for generations to come.
A major goal of the collaboration was to reduce the total cost of protection borne by the City. Many of the projects in the Army Corps plan take a “sheet cake” approach. Gray infrastructure, named because it is made up of gray materials like concrete, provide a singular line of defense and serve as the cake. Recreational open spaces, trails, and other amenities we have and want to see more of along the waterfront are the green frosting on top.
Though these kinds of green spaces can help break up waves and clean flood water, the Army Corps considers the gray infrastructure to provide all the protection, so these green spaces are considered amenities, rather than green infrastructure. Thus, they are excluded from federal funding, and the City will have to come up with the money to pay for these “city betterments” on its own. But the City also has to come up with at least 35% of the cost of the cake (the gray infrastructure). Realistically, a lot of this sheet cake will remain unfrosted.
What’s the Solution?
In a true nature-based solution (that provides flood protection through natural features like wetlands or green open spaces) or hybrid solution (that mixes nature-based solutions with traditional gray infrastructure), the flood protection is more like a layer cake where the gray “cake” and green “frosting” are layered together. In this approach, a terraced shoreline could be made up of wetlands, rip rap terraces, trees, and a crushed stone pathway.
The wetlands, trees, and stone pathway are actually understood as infrastructure and a part of the protection. This would make those features eligible for the federal cost sharing and wouldn’t require the City of Boston to spend as much additional money on city betterments in order for us to enjoy our waterfront. Projects like these have the added benefit of emitting less carbon and costing less money.
The Army Corps didn’t explore options like these, even though they save money and carbon. In fact, no alternatives other than the sheet cake strategy were explored. Though federal process requires an analysis of alternative strategies, the Army Corps only compared their sheet cake strategy to a “do nothing” strategy – not really a viable alternative, given the extensive risks the city and its residents are facing.
Want to Help?
The draft plan was released on July 24th, 2026, and it falls short of the bold and resilient recommendations for Boston’s waterfront that city residents, businesses, and visitors deserve. We want to make sure that our waterfront is accessible, resilient, and equitable. We also want to make sure waterfront infrastructure projects reflect all the creative, local ideas that Bostonians spent so much time developing.
We have an opportunity to make our voices heard by writing letters. The Army Corps is legally required to consider our letters, so our voices will make a difference. If you’d like to read the draft plan and write your own letter, you can find the plan here, and instructions on how to address and submit your letter here. If you’d like to submit something, but aren’t sure where to start, stay tuned – over the course of the summer, CLF will share some language you can submit or modify to reflect your priorities.
