Ellis Island will get $33M to repair its sagging seawall

The money will be used to stabilize the seawall, which has been damaged over the past few years

As part of a $256 million effort by the Trump Administration to address maintenance and repairs across various national parks, the U.S. Interior Department will grant the Statue of Liberty with more than $33 million in funding to stabilize the Ellis Island Seawall, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The funding is set to be received in the second quarter of 2019 and will allow for a two-to-three-year construction project on the seawall to kick off. Since most of Ellis Island is landfill, the seawall the borders the edge of the island has started to sag over the past few years, notes the National Park Service.

"Anytime you have the New York harbor pounding at you over decades, it creates voids where, if it goes unaddressed, it could compromise the overall integrity of the wall," said Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island National Monument spokesmen Jerry Willis in a statement to the WSJ.

The project should not affect tourism to the island.

• U.S. Grants $33 Million for Ellis Island Seawall [Wall Street Journal]