Governments and infrastructure agencies are increasingly turning attention to the need to ensure that public infrastructure is planned and designed to withstand future climate conditions and extreme events. As the availability and quality of climate data and projections improve, this is slowly becoming a less daunting task. In coastal areas, design and protective modifications include measures such as elevating roads and bridges, protecting assets with hard structures or nature-based features,See footnote 1 and modifying pavement materials or structural design to be more resistant to effects from inundation or to minimize environmental impacts if flooded or washed out (e.g., “sacrificial” roads).
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Transportation agencies can utilize resources such as the Federal Highway Administration’s engineering circular, Highways in the Coastal Environment: Assessing Extreme Events, to help with evaluating exposure and vulnerability of coastal highways to sea-level rise and extreme events, and identifying appropriate adaptation approaches.See footnote 2
Adaptive design approaches are being implemented on a project-by-project basis in some states and cities. However, states and local governments, and to some extent, regional transportation planning agencies, can also institutionalize climate change-informed design through the following approaches:
In the context of a comprehensive managed retreat strategy, asset design and protective features will likely primarily be used as an intermediate strategy to bridge the gap to more permanent solutions like disinvestment. Depending on the function or use of the asset and the timeframe for comprehensive retreat from coastal areas, a disinvestment strategy for public infrastructure may not be initially feasible. In these instances, infrastructure managers may want to consider design-related adaptation strategies to ensure the adequate functioning of assets, especially those deemed critical. Design modifications can provide an effective intermediate-term strategy for ensuring public safety and infrastructure resilience to coastal hazards while broader long-term retreat strategies and tools are being planned and considered.
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When considering the need for design modifications or protective features for public infrastructure, as compared to alternative strategies (relocation/realignment, disinvestment), decisionmakers may wish to consider the following practice tips to balance policy tradeoffs:
Endnotes:
1. The Federal Highway Administration developed an implementation guide to assist transportation practitioners in identifying appropriate opportunities to used nature-based features for improved coastal highway resilience. U.S. Dep’t of Transportation, Fed. Highway Admin., Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Highway Resilience: An Implementation Guide, FHWA-HEP-19-042 (Aug. 2019), available at View Source. | Back to contentBack to content
2. U.S. Dep’t of Transportation, Fed. Highway Admin., Hydraulic Engineering Circular No. 25 (Vol. 2): Highways in the Coastal Env’t: Assessing Extreme Events (Report No. FHWA-NHI-14-006), available at View Source. | Back to contentBack to content
3. S.B. 6617-B, 2014 Sess. (N.Y. 2014). New York formally adopted statewide sea-level rise projections in a 2017 rulemaking. N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 6, §§ 490.1-490.4 (2017). Back to contentBack to content
4. A.B. 2800, 2015-2016 Sess. (Cal. 2016). The Climate-Safe Infrastructure Working Group finalized its recommendations in a report, Paying it Forward: the Path Toward Climate-Safe Infrastructure in California, in September 2018. Back to contentBack to content
5. For example, Delaware’s 2013 report, Preparing for Tomorrow’s High Tide: Final Recommendations for Preparing Delaware for Sea Level Rise, recommends developing a statewide retreat plan and conducting a legal review for disinvestment of public infrastructure, noting that public roads and other infrastructure may become impractical to maintain under changing conditions. Del. Dep’t. of Nat. Resources & Envt’l Control, Preparing for Tomorrow’s High Tide: Final Recommendations for Preparing Delaware for Sea Level Rise 39-40 (2013), available at View Source. | Back to contentBack to content
6. 23 C.F.R. § 515.7 (implementing § 1106(e) of MAP-21 (P.L. 112-141)). The Federal Highway Administration funded six pilot projects within state DOTs to support the integration of resilience in the asset management planning process. See U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Fed. Highway Admin., Asset Management and Environmental Risk, View Source. | Back to contentBack to content
7. See 23 U.S.C. §§ 134(h)(1)(I), 135(d)(1)(I) (requiring the consideration of projects and strategies that “improve the resiliency and reliability of the transportation system and reduce or mitigate stormwater impacts of surface transportation” as part of the metropolitan and statewide, respectively, transportation planning processes). For example, the Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization’s 2045 Long-Range Transportation Plan includes a goal to “Improve and Preserve the Existing Transportation System,” with specific objectives stated for improving the resilience of the system, reducing vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure to climate impacts and events, and siting and designing new transportation infrastructure so as to minimize exposure to sea-level rise over the design life of the infrastructure. Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Org., 2045 Long-Range Transportation Plan (Sept. 26, 2019), available at View Source. | Back to contentBack to content
8. For example, the Long-Range Transportation Plan for the Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning Organization (the planning agency for the Tampa Bay, Florida region) identifies two relevant desired performance outcomes for 2045 within its “State of Good Repair and Resilience” Program: “Invest $22 million per year to make highly vulnerable and critical roads resilient to flooding and storms,” and “Prevent up to $100 million in daily economic losses (gross regional product) from impassable roads after major weather events.” Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning Org., It’s TIME Hillsborough: 2045 Long-Range Transportation Plan 66 (Adopted Nov. 5, 2019), available at View Source. | Back to contentBack to content
9. See, e.g., Fla. Dep’t of Transp., RESILIENCE QUICK GUIDE: INCORPORATING RESILIENCE IN THE MPO LONG RANGE TRANSPORTATION PLAN (Jan. 2020), available at View Source; Wash. State Dep’t of Transp., Guidance for Considering Impacts of Climate Change in WSDOT Plans (2017), available at View Source. | Back to contentBack to content
10. See, e.g., City and Cnty. of San Francisco, GUIDANCE FOR INCORPORATING SEA LEVEL RISE INTO CAPITAL PLANNING IN SAN FRANCISCO: ASSESSING VULNERABILITY AND RISK TO SUPPORT ADAPTATION (adopted Sept. 22, 2014; revised Dec. 14, 2015), available at View Source. For a summary of this guidance, see Georgetown Climate Ctr., Guidance for Incorporating Sea Level Rise into Capital Planning in San Francisco, Adaptation Clearinghouse, View Source. | Back to contentBack to content
11. See, e.g., Broward Cnty. Ord. No. 2017-16 (2017); Broward Cnty., Groundwater Maps, View Source; Wash. State Dep’t of Transp., Guidance for NEPA and SEPA Project-Level Climate Change Evaluations (Jan. 2017 Update), available at View Source. For summaries of these resources, see Georgetown Climate Ctr., Broward County, Florida Ordinance 2017-16 and Future Conditions Maps for Infrastructure Design, Adaptation Clearinghouse, View Source; Georgetown Climate Ctr., Washington State DOT (WSDOT) Guidance for Project-Level Climate Change Evaluation, Adaptation Clearinghouse, View Source. | Back to contentBack to content
12. See, e.g., New York City, Climate Resiliency Design Guidelines (Mar. 2019, Version 3.0), available at View Source; Mass. Port Auth., Floodproofing Design Guide (Revised Apr. 2015), available at View Source; City of Va. Beach, Va. Dep’t of Public Works Eng’g Grp., Design Standards Manual Ch. 8 (Draft, Apr. 2020), available at View Source. For summaries of these resources, see Georgetown Climate Ctr., Massachusetts Port Authority Resiliency Program and Floodproofing Design Guide, Adaptation Clearinghouse, View Source; Georgetown Climate Ctr., New York City Climate Resiliency Design Guidelines, Adaptation Clearinghouse, View Source; Georgetown Climate Ctr., Virginia Beach Public Works Design Standards Manual - Sea Level Rise and Precipitation Adjustments for Stormwater Management Design, Adaptation Clearinghouse, View Source. | Back to contentBack to content
13. U.S. Dep’t of Transportation, Fed. Highway Admin., Office of Planning, Environment, & Realty, Sustainability: Tools: Climate Change Adaptation, available at View Source (last visited June 8, 2020). | Back to contentBack to content
14. For additional discussion of legal and administrative challenges relating to roadway elevation, see Olivia Thompson & Read Porter, Marine Affairs Institute, Roger Williams University School of Law, Municipal Options to Address Nuisance Flooding of Coastal Highways in Rhode Island 6 (2019), available at View Source. | Back to contentBack to content
15. Nat’l Acad. of Sci., Eng’g, and Med., Incorporating the Costs and Benefits of Adaptation Measures in Preparation for Extreme Weather Events and Climate Change Guidebook (2020). View Source. | Back to contentBack to content
16. U.S. Dep’t of Transp., Fed. Highway Admin., Climate Change Adaptation Guide for Transportation Systems Management, Operations, and Maintenance 33, available at View Source. | Back to contentBack to content
17. See Cal. Coastal Comm’n, Staff Report - Application No. CDP 1-18-1078 (Jul. 26, 2019), available at View Source. | Back to contentBack to content
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