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Gulf Coast Study

The groundbreaking U.S. DOT Gulf Coast Study produced tools and lessons learned that transportation agencies across the country are using to assess vulnerabilities and build resilience. Phase 2 was completed in 2015, Phase 1 in 2008.

• Overall Summaries
• Tools
• Reports
• Background
• Contacts

Overall Summaries:

• 4 page Summary of Gulf Coast Study Phase 2 (HTML)
• Summaries of asset specific assessments and summaries by steps of project (HTML).

Tools:

• Vulnerability Assessment Tools
  • Sensitivity Matrix (Excel file) (2015) - Spreadsheet tool that documents the sensitivity of roads, bridges, airports, ports, pipelines, and rail to 11 natural hazards. View a webinar about the tool.
  • Guide to Assessing Criticality in Transportation Adaptation Planning (HTML) (2015) - Discusses common challenges associated with assessing criticality, options for defining criticality and identifying scope, and the process of applying criteria and ranking assets. View a webinar about criticality.
  • CMIP Data Processing Tool (March 2016) - (Note: this tool was replaced by CMIP Processing Tool Version 2 (2020).) The tool processes projections of temperature and precipitation values at the local level for use in transportation analysis. View a webinar about the tool.
  • Vulnerability Assessment Scoring Tool (June 2015) User Guide (also in PDF, 1.5MB), Tool (Excel file, 2MB) - Spreadsheet tool that guides the user through conducting a quantitative, indicator-based vulnerability screen. Intended for agencies assessing how components of their transportation system may be vulnerable to natural hazards. View a webinar about the tool.

Reports:

• FHWA published reports based on research into resilience and vulnerability of surface transportation in Mobile, AL, including: a report focused on identifying critical infrastructure; an assessment of sensitivity to a range of environmental conditions; projections of future conditions; a system-wide vulnerability assessment; and an engineering assessment of multiple transportation assets. In addition, FHWA published the Gulf Coast Study, Phase 1 in 2008.

Background

To better understand potential impacts associated with current and future weather events and natural disasters on transportation infrastructure and identify adaptation strategies, the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) conducted a comprehensive, multi-phase study of impacts in the Central Gulf Coast region. This region is home to a complex multimodal network of transportation infrastructure and several large population centers, and it plays a critical national economic role in the import and export of oil and gas, agricultural products, and other goods. This multi-modal study was sponsored by the U.S. DOT in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and was managed by FHWA.

Phase 1

Phase 1 (completed in 2008) examined the impacts of current and future weather events on transportation infrastructure at a regional scale, investigating risks and impacts on coastal ports, road, air, rail, and public transit systems in the central Gulf Coast, with a study area stretching from Houston/Galveston, Texas, to Mobile, Alabama. The study assessed likely changes in temperature and precipitation patterns, sea level rise, and increasing severity and frequency of tropical storms. Phase 1 then explored how these changes could impact transportation systems.

Phase 2

Phase 2 focused on the Mobile, Alabama region, with the goal of enhancing regional decision makers' ability to understand potential impacts on specific critical components of infrastructure and to evaluate adaptation options. In Mobile, U.S. DOT assessed the vulnerability of the most critical transportation assets to changing conditions. U.S. DOT then developed risk management tools to help transportation system planners, owners, and operators determine which systems and assets to protect and how to do so. The methods and tools developed under Phase 2 are intended to be replicable to other regions throughout the country. In fact, several state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations used pre-release versions of these tools in resilience pilots. Phase 2 was publicly released on January 22, 2015 in a live webcast.