An Integrated Dynamic Modeling Approach for Flooding of Coastal Transportation Infrastructure Assessment of Impacts on Emergency Operations

Low-lying coastal areas of Hampton Roads, Virginia are vulnerable to recurrent flooding. Flooding impacts are exacerbated by climate change and sea level rise as the region is experiencing the nation’s second highest rate of relative sea level rise. With climate change, the intensity and the frequency of storms are expected to increase and make the region more susceptible to coastal flooding. As such, addressing frequent flooding problems is the top priority in the City of Norfolk. Of particular interest is the flooding impact on access to emergency care facilities in the City. Sentara Norfolk General Hospital houses the only Level 1 trauma center in the region and is located near the Ghent neighborhood. During high tides, storm surge, and heavy rain situations, the transportation network near this area floods, leading to challenges in accessing the trauma center. These challenges can have life threatening implications. For major trauma victims, the “golden hour” is critical; during this hour immediately after the injury, medical treatment has the highest likelihood of preventing death. Transportation delays have clear detriments in this setting and the delays are only anticipated to worsen over the years without intervention. Therefore, it is critical to predict the flooding impact on access to the facility, and plan emergency operation such that alternatives exist for areas with disrupted access to the trauma center. To achieve this, reliable estimates of flooding depth, duration, and spatial distribution over the transportation infrastructure are needed. These estimates can then be used to optimally position mobile medical assets.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Contract Numbers:

  DTRT13-G-UTC33

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Old Dominion University

  Norfolk, VA  United States  23529

  Virginia Tech Transportation Institute

  3500 Transportation Research Plaza
  Blacksburg, Virginia  United States  24061

  University of Virginia, Charlottesville

  Center for Transportation Studies
  P.O. Box 400742, Thornton Hall, D228
  Charlottesville, VA  United States  22903

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Mid-Atlantic Transportation Sustainability Center

  University of Virginia
  Charlottesville, VA  United States 
• Performing Organizations:

  Old Dominion University

  Norfolk, VA  United States  23529

  University of Virginia, Charlottesville

  Center for Transportation Studies
  P.O. Box 400742, Thornton Hall, D228
  Charlottesville, VA  United States  22903

  Virginia Tech Transportation Institute

  3500 Transportation Research Plaza
  Blacksburg, Virginia  United States  24061
• Principal Investigators:

  Tahvildari, Navid

  Cetin, Mecit

  Goodall, Jonathan

  Murray-Tuite, P

• Start Date: 20170501
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20190225

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Access; Depth; Disasters and emergency operations; Evaluation and assessment; Floods; Forecasting; Health care facilities; Impacts; Spatial analysis; Time duration
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Security and Emergencies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01645916
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Mid-Atlantic Transportation Sustainability Center
• Contract Numbers: DTRT13-G-UTC33
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Sep 11 2017 4:55PM