Manhattan is building a massive $1 billion wall and park to guard against the next inevitable superstorm

Today, six years after Hurricane Sandy hit New York City, the five boroughs are still recovering from the storm.

Sandy did $19 billion in damage to NYC, and the rate of development along the city's coastlines has only increased. New York now has more residents living in high-risk flood zones than any other city in the nation.

Local city-planning experts have worried how NYC will cope when the next superstorm inevitably hits the city.

So in 2013, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) held an open call for proposals that would make NYC more resilient against flooding and future storms. The competition, called Rebuild By Design, awarded funding to seven winners — one being a massive barrier along the southern end of Manhattan.

Called the BIG U and designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the ambitious project calls for a series of levees, a floodwall, and a park that would help protect the island from inundation. One of BIG's lead designers, Jeremy Siegel, told Business Insider that the project is moving forward, and construction will begin in spring 2019.

So far, HUD and the City of New York have given nearly $1 billion toward its implementation.

Take a look at the BIG U's design below.

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Plans for the BIG U consist of two main parts: the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (which will stretch along the East River from East 25th Street to Montgomery Street) and the Lower Manhattan Resiliency Project (spanning Montgomery Street to Battery Park City).

Along with BIG, One Architecture and Urbanism, Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects (MNLA), Starr Whitehouse, James Lima Planning + Development, Level Infrastructure, Burohappold, Arcadis, Green Shield Ecology, Aea Consulting, Big Ideas, and the Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency have also been involved in the project.

In late March, Manhattan’s Community Board 3 approved BIG's designs for the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR) portion.

The goal of the ESCR is to not only prevent flooding in the low-lying areas of Manhattan, but also to revitalize the existing park space along the East River.