A Proposed Method for Assessing the Vulnerability of Road-Stream Crossings to Climate Change: Deerfield River Watershed Pilot

In 2011, the destruction associated with Tropical Storm Irene highlighted the vulnerability of the transportation system to flooding and erosion. This federally recognized major disaster served as a wakeup call for communities across northwestern Massachusetts, emphasizing the need for increased resilience to extreme weather events.  Road-stream crossings are a critical component of the transportation system, and are particularly vulnerable to flooding damage and failure. The goal of the Deerfield River Vulnerability Pilot Project (Deerfield Project) was to develop a rapid assessment and prioritization methodology for evaluating and ranking the vulnerability of road-stream crossings to extreme weather and climate change.

There were three broad objectives for the Deerfield Project.

1.    Develop methodologies for assessing structural, geomorphic and hydraulic risk of failure for road-stream crossings and the associated disruption of emergency medical services.
2.    Incorporate climate change into hydraulic analyses using down-scaled climate models to predict future flows and hydraulic risk of failure for road-stream crossings.
3.    Use these new methodologies, along with existing methodologies for assessing ecological disruption, to assess the vulnerability of road-stream crossings in the Massachusetts portion of the Deerfield River watershed.