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- Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge Impacts to Roadways in Hampton Roads (May 2016)
Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge Impacts to Roadways in Hampton Roads (May 2016)
View the Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge Impacts on Roadways in Hampton Roads Final Report (PDF).
Overview
Repetitive flooding on roadways and at critical transportation facilities can severely impact travel and hurt regional and local economies. When streets are impassable during and after flooding events, it often results in damages to personal property and missed work time, which has a crippling effect on communities. For this reason, it is imperative for Hampton Roads to plan for climate change impacts to transportation infrastructure and to develop adaptation strategies for those facilities. It is also important to consider the latest projections in sea level rise and storm surge when the region builds new roadway infrastructure or rebuilds existing roadway infrastructure.
While it is important to plan and assess potential climate-based vulnerabilities to all land, air, and marine transportation systems, this study focuses on roadways within the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA), including bridges and tunnels. HRTPO staff has partnered with Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC) staff to conduct a comprehensive GIS-based flooding vulnerability analysis for potential sea level rise and storm surge impacts to regional roadways by 2045-next Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) horizon year.
Prior to the flooding vulnerability analysis, this study provides background information, including sea level rise/storm surge definitions and trends for the Hampton Roads region. Further, it provides a brief description of recent studies and work related to climate change and discusses the potential impacts of sea level rise and storm surge on roadway infrastructure.
Analyses
The analyses within this study are intended to be a "high-level" planning tool to screen regional roadway assets for vulnerability to flooding under three sea level rise and storm surge scenarios for the next long-range transportation planning horizon. The HRTPO Board can use these results by choosing projects for currently vulnerable roads in the HRTPO's Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and LRTP (2040).
Because of the disconnect between the timeframe of most metropolitan long-range transportation plans (20 to 25 years) and the 50-80 year timeframe associated with most climate change adaptation planning, the results in this study may also be used as a tool for developing future adaptation strategies beyond 2045. Further comprehensive assessment of individual roadways will be necessary for determining the degree of vulnerability of specific assets in order to set future priorities to protect them.
This report includes a methodology for incorporating sea level rise and storm surge impacts on roadways into the HRTPO Long-Range Transportation Plan Project Prioritization Tool. Furthermore, it contains adaptation strategies, design considerations, best practices, and lessons learned from other coastal regions (e.g. Gulf Coast) that are also vulnerable to sea level rise and storm surge.