Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Highway Resilience: an August 2019 Implementation Guide 7
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NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR COASTAL HIGHWAY RESILIENCE: AN IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Highway Resilience Notice This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document. The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers’ names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document. Quality Assurance Statement The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides high-quality information to serve government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of its information. FHWA periodically reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement. This project was carried out in support of 23 U.S.C. § 503(b)(3)(B)(viii), which directs the Department of Transportation “to carry out research and development activities … to study the vulnerabilities of the transportation system to … extreme events and methods to reduce those vulnerabilities.” Credit for cover image: Pixabay Credit for sidebar image: gettyimages i Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Highway Resilience Technical Report Documentation Page 1. Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient’s Catalog No. FHWA-HEP-19-042 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Highway Resilience: An August 2019 Implementation Guide 7. Author(s) 6. Performing Organization Bret Webb (SCE), Brenda Dix (ICF), Scott Douglass (SCE), Susan Asam (ICF), Code Charlotte Cherry (ICF), Beau Buhring (SCE) 8. Performing Organization Report No. 9. Performing Organization Name(s) and Address(es) 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) ICF South Coast Engineers (SCE) 1725 Eye Street, NW, Suite 1000 P.O. Box 72 11. Contract or Grant No. Washington, DC 20006 Fairhope, AL 36533 DTFH6117F00098 12. Sponsoring Agency Name(s) and Address(es) 13. Type of Report and Period Tina Hodges, Rebecca Lupes, Eric Brown, Rob Hyman, Rob Kafalenos, Covered Heather Holsinger Federal Highway Administration 14. Sponsoring Agency Code 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 15. Supplementary Notes This report and related materials are available online on FHWA’s resilience website. 16. Abstract This Implementation Guide is designed to help transportation practitioners understand how and where nature-based and hybrid solutions can be used to improve the resilience of coastal roads and bridges. Upfront, it summarizes the potential flood-reduction benefits and co-benefits of these strategies. From there, the guide follows the steps in the project delivery process, providing guidance on how to consider nature-based solutions in the planning process, how to conduct a site assessment to determine whether nature-based solutions are appropriate, key engineering and ecological design considerations, permitting approaches, construction considerations, and monitoring and maintenance strategies. The guide also includes appendices with site characterization tools, decision support for selecting nature-based solutions, suggested performance metrics, and links to additional tools and resources. 17. Key Words 18. Distribution Statement Nature-based solutions, natural solutions, green infrastructure, living shorelines, sea level rise, storm surge, wave, erosion, highway, resilience, vulnerability, beach, marsh, breakwater, revetment, oyster reef, ecology, coastal processes, coastal restoration, mangrove, maritime forest, reef, dune, engineering 19. Security Classif. (of 18. Security Classif. (of 20. No. of Pages 22. Price this report) this page) 229 Unclassified Unclassified ii Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Highway Resilience CONTENTS LIST OF SYMBOLS ________________________________________ xi LIST OF ACRONYMS _______________________________________ xii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ____________________________________ 1 1. INTRODUCTION ________________________________________ 5 1.1 Purpose and Scope __________________________________ 5 1.2 What Are Nature-Based Solutions? ______________________ 6 1.3 Linkages to Other Federal Efforts _______________________ 9 1.4 Other Related FHWA Efforts ___________________________ 9 1.5 Audience __________________________________________ 9 1.6 Organization of this Guide ____________________________ 10 TECHNCIAL FACTSHEETS _________________________________ 12 2. RISK-REDUCTION PERFORMANCE, ECOLOGICAL BENEFITS, AND MONETARY COSTS __________________________________ 25 2.1 Risk-Reduction Benefits______________________________ 25 2.2 Habitat, Water Quality, and Recreational Benefits _________ 32 2.3 Typical Monetary Costs ______________________________ 34 2.4 Long-Term Performance _____________________________ 37 3. PLANNING AND FUNDING _______________________________ 43 3.1 Transportation Planning ______________________________ 43 3.2 Stakeholder Engagement ____________________________ 51 3.3 Funding Opportunities _______________________________ 53 4. SITE ASSESSMENT ____________________________________ 56 4.1 Site Characterization ________________________________ 56 4.2 Resilience Characterization ___________________________ 68 4.3 Selecting the Right Solution ___________________________ 73 4.4 Regional Considerations _____________________________ 75 5. ENGINEERING AND ECOLOGICAL DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS 79 5.1 Assembling the Team _______________________________ 79 5.2 Addressing Tie-Ins to Surrounding Areas ________________ 80 5.3 Engineering Design Considerations for Common Nature-Based Materials and Techniques _________________________________ 81 5.4 Analyze Protection Levels and Adjust Design as Needed____ 97 5.5 Ecological Design Considerations _____________________ 101 5.6 Monitoring, Maintenance, and Public Access Needs ______ 104 5.7 Design Examples __________________________________ 104 iii Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Highway Resilience 6. PERMITTING FOR NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS ___________ 125 6.1 Federal Regulations ________________________________ 125 6.2 State Regulations __________________________________ 128 6.3 Types of Permits __________________________________ 130 6.4 Typical Permit Workflow ____________________________ 132 6.5 NEPA Compliance _________________________________ 135 6.6 Mitigation Opportunities _____________________________ 137 7. CONSTRUCTION ______________________________________ 140 7.1 Who to Contact ___________________________________ 140 7.2 Procurement Considerations _________________________ 140 7.3 Phases of Construction _____________________________ 142 7.4 Special Considerations and Constraints ________________ 146 8. MONITORING, MAINTENANCE, AND ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT 149 8.1 Performance Monitoring_____________________________ 149 8.2 Maintenance Requirements __________________________ 156 8.3 Maintenance Costs ________________________________ 158 8.4 Tracking Performance ______________________________ 160 8.5 Making Adjustments ________________________________ 161 9. CONCLUSIONS _______________________________________ 165 10. APPENDICES ______________________________________ 166 APPENDIX A: Site Characterization Resources ______________ 166 APPENDIX B: Nature-Based Solution Decision Trees __________ 168 APPENDIX C: Performance Metrics for Monitoring ____________ 172 APPENDIX D: Additional Tools and Resources _______________ 189 11. GLOSSARY ________________________________________ 196 12. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ______________________________ 200 13. REFERENCES _____________________________________ 201 iv Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Highway Resilience LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1-1. Nature-based solutions consist of varying degrees of natural, nature-based, and structural elements depending on the setting, exposure to wave action, and resilience needs (adapted with modifications from SAGE 2017)._______________________________ 8 Figure 2-1. A constructed, vegetated dune protects this low-elevation barrier island roadway during storm events (photo courtesy of Bret Webb). __________________________________________________ 35 Figure 2-2. Thin layer placement of dredged material (photo courtesy of USACE 2019b). __________________________________________ 40 Figure 2-3. Flooding of Great Bay Boulevard during high tide (FHWA 2018c). _________________________________________________ 40 Figure 3-1. Map of locations that have implemented Eco-Logical (FHWA 2019c). _________________________________________________ 45 Figure 3-2. FHWA Eco-Logical framework (FHWA 2019c). _________ 46 Figure 3-3. A screenshot from the Maryland Watershed Resources Registry shows how this and similar REFs can be used to identify candidate areas for nature-based solutions. The GIS layers indicate that the segment of MD-261/Bay Avenue circled in red is in (1) the 100-year floodplain, (2) an area of “high marsh protection potential,” and (3) a “targeted ecological area.” Source: Maryland Watershed Resources Registry. ________________________________________________ 48 Figure 3-4. The transportation planning process consists of nine major steps that repeat as a (frequently non-linear) cycle. Stakeholder engagement occurs at every stage of the transportation planning process. _________________________________________________ 49 Figure 3-5. Participants at Alabama Peer Exchange (photo courtesy of FHWA). _________________________________________________