September 14, 2023
EDC-7: Weather-Responsive Management Strategies
The Atlantic hurricane season, extending from June 1 until November 30 each year, produces numerous severe weather events that present various challenges for State DOTs. These challenges aren’t limited to the States where these storms make landfall, but include many other States included in the storm’s path which may not normally be associated with hurricane events.
Weather-responsive management strategies (WRMS) offer States methods to respond to severe weather events through preparation activities that use existing data and tools and leverage State and local partnerships. By preparing for the impacts of severe weather events, State and local agencies are better positioned to support response and recovery efforts after an event.
Hurricanes and other severe weather events can impact areas far inland from where they make landfall, such as seen here with flooding along I-676 in Philadelphia. (Credit: PennDOT)
FHWA documented several States’ WRMS preparation and response efforts around Hurricane Ida in this case study. This storm made landfall as a category 4 hurricane in Louisiana in August, 2021. The case study highlights the experiences and lessons learned from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LaDOTD), Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), and New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) while managing major flooding events resulting from the storm. The case study also provides insight into the tools and resources used as well as the relationships leveraged to prepare for and respond to Hurricane Ida in the summer of 2021.
One example of the type of planning included in the case study is LaDOTD’s contraflow planning—their plan to safely evacuate residents by reversing traffic flow on certain road segments—in advance of the storm’s landfall. LaDOTD met with State and local personnel to discuss the contraflow plan and revised it to alleviate traffic issues that would be caused by funneling evacuees from I–10 and I–12 through Baton Rouge. They created an alternate route to divert traffic to U.S. Route 61, and this change has since been made permanent. After making this change, the DOTD also reviewed the contraflow plan and its potential effects with personnel from the Mississippi DOT.
Read about this and more in the full case study. To learn more about WRMS and how it can help your agency prepare for adverse weather events, contact David Johnson, FHWA Office of Operations.
Did You Know?
Did you know that over the next seven months, we will experience two solar eclipses? On October 14, 2023, the annular solar eclipse will cross the U.S. across eight States: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, and Utah. Eclipses can impact our transportation systems due to large traffic volumes in the States they cross. Additionally, they can generate associated local events and generate potential safety impacts. Learn about how a DOT can prepare for a solar eclipse in this FHWA solar eclipse preparation case study.
Value Capture How-To Briefs Reveal Challenges, Solutions and Opportunities
Value Capture (VC) is a powerful tool that addresses the growing gap between available funding and roadway construction and maintenance needs and can be used in a wide range of settings including urban, suburban, and rural areas. This funding technique, featured during EDC-5, helps agencies to capture a portion of the value created by transportation infrastructure investment through various approaches, which can then be reinvested into roadway operations, maintenance, or financing current or future transportation projects.
The Center for Innovative Finance Support’s VC website features 15 how-to briefs, which can help agencies develop and implement their own VC programs. These briefs provide detailed accounts of the challenges and opportunities associated with the different forms of VC. Additionally, these briefs include implementation challenge solutions, procedures, technical approaches, and recommended legal language to help make VC a reality for your agency.
To learn more about value capture, contact Stefan Natzke, FHWA Office of Planning, Environment, and Realty, or Thay Bishop, FHWA Center for Innovative Finance Support.
Discover Home-Grown Innovations from Around the Country
Are you interested in homegrown innovations being used by your peers in other parts of the country? Check out the National STIC Network Showcase, a component of the EDC-7 Virtual Summit. Registering for the event allows you to access all the content through February 2024.The Showcase features several innovations around pavements.
Learn about the Florida Department of Transportation's (FDOT's) eStorm application, which collects field data, operational status of traffic signal devices, generator deployment, and downed structures events for ITS and traffic signal devices following hurricanes or thunderstorms. This ArcGIS-based app, pioneered by the State of Florida, has nationwide usability applications in emergency scenarios where device operational status knowledge is critical to safe and efficient traffic movement.
Celebrate the ingenuity of your peers and read about these innovations—developed and deployed in-house at transportation agencies nationwide. Additionally, we invite you to watch the one-hour presentations on-demand that feature many of these and other innovations.
New Innovator Now Available!
The September/October issue of Innovator is now available, accessible from your computer, tablet, or mobile phone to optimize your reading experience!
In this issue:
- Internally Curing Concrete Produces EPIC Results
- Environmental Product Declarations Help Create Sustainable Highways
- Nighttime Visibility for Safety: Visible Solutions
- EDC Legacy—Laying the Foundation for the Safe System Approach
- And more...
Comments? Questions? We'd love your feedback! Drop us a line and let us know what you think.
Read past issues and sign up to receive Innovator by email here, or text "FHWA Innovation" to 468311 to get Innovator on your smartphone.
Stay Up to Date on the EDC Innovations That Interest You Most
EDC teams are always on the move! If you blink, you could miss out on important webinars, case studies, tools, videos, and more. To never miss information for the EDC innovations that interest you most, visit the subscription page and select the topics you’d like to receive updates on directly from the teams that coordinate them.
Recent bulletins:
CHANGE (Hydraulic Modeling) 9/7/23
Local Aid Support 9/7/23
Safety 9/5/23
Project Delivery 9/5/23
Crowdsourcing 8/31/23
Upcoming Events
Development Agreements and Other Contract-based Value Capture Techniques
September 14, 2023, 1:00-3:00pm ET Register
Digital As-Builts Forum
September 18, 2023, 3:30-4:30pm ET Register
Emergency and Work Zone Management
September 19, 2023, 1:00-2:30pm ET Register
Strategies for Meaningful Public Involvement in Roadway Safety Planning
September 20, 2023, 1:00-3:00pm ET Register
Global Benchmarking Webinar Series: Improving Pedestrian Safety on Urban Arterials
Part 1: Introduction and Overview of Study Findings
September 25, 2023, 2:30-4:00pm ET Details Register
Global Benchmarking Webinar Series: Improving Pedestrian Safety on Urban Arterials
Part 2: The Movement and Place Framework
October 2, 2023, 2:30-4:00pm ET Details Register
Value Capture Strategies and Asset Recycling
October 18, 2023, 1:00-3:00pm ET Register
About EDC
Every Day Counts, a state-based initiative of the Federal Highway Administration's Center for Accelerating Innovation, works with state, local and private sector partners to encourage the adoption of proven technologies and innovations to shorten and enhance project delivery.
EDC News is published weekly by the FHWA Center for Accelerating Innovation.
Notice: The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers‘ names appear in this presentation only because they are considered essential to the objective of the presentation. They are included for informational purposes only and are not intended to reflect a preference, approval, or endorsement of any one product or entity.
Disclaimer: The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers’ names appear in this document only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document. They are included for informational purposes only and are not intended to reflect a preference, approval, or endorsement of any one product or entity.
Except for the statutes and regulations cited, the contents of this document do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the States or the public in any way. This document is intended only to provide information regarding existing requirements under the law or agency policies.
Recommended Citation:
U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration
EDC News; April 20, 2023
Washington, DC
https://doi.org/10.21949/1521760
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