It has already held up against recent and strong king tides. Mayor Dean Trantalis and District 4 Commissioner Ben Sorensen cut the ribbon on the Cordova Road seawall to officially mark its completion.
“The completion of the Cordova Road seawall shows Fort Lauderdale’s strong commitment to protecting our community from the adverse impacts of climate change,” Mayor Trantalis says. “With sea levels continuing to rise and extreme weather patterns becoming increasingly common, we must do all we can to improve our city’s infrastructure to protect our property and our way of life.”
This massive $6-million project involved rebuilding a half-mile section of seawall over two years. The wall now has upgraded drainage and larger swales. The City has also improved the water connections along the wall for private docks. As part of the project, additional safeguards were added to the permitting process across the City to increase protections for all neighbors.
“The Cordova Road seawall project is a great example of the ways the City is working to protect property and infrastructure from sea level rise,” Commissioner Sorensen says. “The increased height of the seawall will reduce flooding as well as protect vital infrastructure from storm surge during hurricanes. I think that as we work to harden our infrastructure against the worst effects of climate change, we can also take the opportunity to evaluate the City’s public places for new uses for private and public benefits. I hope we continue to build upon the lessons learned from the Cordova seawall project and apply them throughout the City of Fort Lauderdale as we build a better and more resilient city.”
This is all part of the City’s $200-million investment into critical stormwater projects to secure our neighbors against flooding and future sea level rise.
