As prime consultant, we partnered with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to prepare a feasibility study and environmental impact statement (EIS) for the RBD Hudson River project. Receiving $230 million in HUD funding, the project was conceived as an urban water strategy designed to protect the entire city of Hoboken and parts of Weehawken and Jersey City from frequent flooding due to storm surge, high tide, and heavy rainfall. Resilience measures include waterfront or inland infrastructure for surge defense (resist); policy recommendations, guidelines, and urban infrastructure to slow rainwater runoff (delay); a circuit of interconnected green infrastructure to store and direct excess rainwater (store); and water pumps and alternative routes to support drainage (discharge).

HUD’s award comes in the form of Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds requiring compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The NEPA EIS process dictates a public outreach program that encourages stakeholders to provide input on the project. The EIS incorporated technical studies for disciplines, including natural resources, socioeconomics, land use, historic preservation, and visual resources. These studies considered the project’s ability to meet its purpose and need, while taking practical measures to avoid, minimize, and mitigate potential impacts to the built, natural, and social environment. This analysis, in conjunction with the feasibility study, guided the decision-making and ultimate selection of a preferred alternative to advance into design and construction.

A Record of Decision was issued in September 2017. HUD released $230 million in project funding in October 2017 to move the project into the next phase of design and construction.