South Florida Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Pilot Project

In 2013, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sponsored climate resilience pilot studies in selected states and metropolitan areas in the U.S. The intent of these pilot studies was to examine approaches to \u201cconduct climate change and extreme weather vulnerability assessments of transportation infrastructure and to analyze options for adapting and improving resiliency.\u201d The Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), as lead agency on behalf of the region\u2019s three MPOs, and in partnership with other agencies, received one of the pilot projects. The project studied the southeast Florida four-county region. This report presents the results of this study. Five study objectives were adopted to guide the analysis: 1) provide adaptation analysis capability, 2) identify adaptation projects and strategies, 3) apply a vulnerability framework and provide feedback to the planning process, 4) enhance decision support and 5) strengthen institutional capacity. The study examined three climate change-related stresses: sea level rise inundation, storm surge flooding, and heavy precipitation induced flooding. Only roadway and passenger rail facilities on the designated regional transportation network were considered as part of this analysis. The overall approach to the vulnerability assessment was based on the FHWA\u2019s Climate Change and Extreme Weather Vulnerability Assessment Framework. A scoring system was used to rate each road and rail link in the region with respect to their vulnerability to permanent sea level rise inundation and periodic inundation from storm surge and heavy rainfall