As New Yorkers have watched the waterfront around Manhattan open up in recent years, one stretch has lagged: the East River waterfront, especially from the Brooklyn Bridge north to 38th Street, where the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive impedes access, bike lanes are squeezed by development and, now in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, storm surges threaten parkland.

A new blueprint for that section, called the East River Blueway Plan, will be announced on Thursday by the Manhattan borough president, Scott M. Stringer, in his annual state of the borough speech. The plan, which involved public meetings with dozens of community groups and consultations with seven city and state agencies, lays out various ways to reconnect residents with the riverfront.

The plan will not be officially released for a few weeks, but a copy was obtained by The New York Times in advance of the speech. Among the major recommendations are the development of a new public beach and kayak launch directly beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, where a naturally occurring sand beach forms a rock-strewn crescent that is now fenced off; the creation of two boat launches at Stuyvesant Cove at the ends of 20th and 23rd Streets; the installation of marshlands and sea walls in especially vulnerable flood zones, and the planting of trees and greenery all along the F.D.R. Drive to provide shade and absorb storm water runoff.