SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- San Francisco is planning to spend tens of millions of U.S. dollars on salvaging its landmark tourist attraction waterfront that is threatened by earthquakes and a rising sea level, media reports said Thursday.
The City Hall and port authorities of San Francisco, a tourist city in the U.S. western coast state of California, are grappling with the pressing likelihood of natural disasters hitting the city's landmark waterfront, the Embarcadero.
The Embarcadero, along the city's eastern shoreline, is home to several waterfront attractions of San Francisco, including its iconic clock tower and the 1898 Ferry Building, a major food lover's attraction featuring restaurants and gourmet shops.
The city authorities are moving to sign a 10-year contract valued at 40 million U.S. dollars with a group of 21 consultants, including a Dutch firm, to remake the Embarcadero into a landmark capable of withstanding future natural threats.
San Francisco port authorities estimated last year that the cost of upgrading the Embarcadero seawall could top 5 billion dollars.
Built in 1916, the rock-and-concrete seawall keeps San Francisco Bay from reclaiming inland blocks built on landfill, including portions of the Financial District, the city's business center.
A 2016 study for the port authorities said that although the seawall is not likely to collapse in a major earthquake, it could sag and lurch toward the bay.
Such a consequence could cause buildings along the Embarcadero to collapse while water floods into the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) tube, which is a rapid transit public transportation system linking downtown San Francisco with other cities around it.
BART is the fifth-busiest heavy rail rapid transit system in the United States.
"We need to address a problem that hasn't been confronted before -- how do you prepare a city for sea level rise?" said Peter Wijsman of Arcadis, a Dutch environmental consulting firm that is leading a study plan for the rehabilitation of the Embarcadero.
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee is expected to call a public ballot next November on a 350-million-dollar bond that is designed for seawall improvements.
