New York City Officials Choose Concrete to Repair Boardwalk

Almost a year after Hurricane Sandy nearly destroyed the five-mile boardwalk at Rockaway Beach in Queens, NY, city officials are turning to concrete to repair it. Replacing it will be hugely expensive, with a tentative price tag of $200 million. It will involve 4.7 miles of new decking and about 50,000 linear feet of railing. And though work could start by the end of the year, the Boardwalk will take years to rebuild; just how many is unclear. What is certain, however, is that it will not be made of wood. Soon after the hurricane, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said that the storm had laid to rest the debate over wood versus concrete as the preferred material for boardwalks. He pointed to the few concrete sections that had come through in relatively good shape.