Project Leads

Paula L. Sturdevant Rees, Scott D. Jackson, Stephen B. Mabee, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Katherin M. McArthur, Massachusetts Department of Transportation

Geography

Deerfield Watershed, MA

Project Dates: 

2015-2018

Project Description

UMass Amherst, on behalf of MassDOT, developed risk-based and data driven protocols for assessing the present and future extreme flood vulnerability of road-stream crossing structures within the Deerfield River watershed. These protocols incorporate consideration of a range of potential climatic and natural system stressors and risk factors, including present and future flood hydrologic conditions, geomorphic stability, ecological system accommodation, structural flood resilience, and transportation/emergency response service disruption impact. These protocols are based on transportation vulnerability ( combining risk of failure, climate change, and criticality of each crossing) and ecological disruption (combining connectivity loss and connectivity restoration potential), resulting in a scoring system for the overall prioritization of crossings in a watershed.

Publications