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Start Date: 2021

Low Lying Roads Project Homepage, learn more about the background and process.

 

  • Overview
  • Materials
  • Map Viewer
  • Priorities
  • Solutions

Overview

The Cape Cod Commission is working with all 15 Cape towns, including the Town of Bourne, to examine vulnerabilities in the roadway network and identify solutions. With funding support from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the Massachusetts Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program, the Commission has contracted with the Woods Hole Group (WHG) to conduct a vulnerability assessment of roadway segments, bridges, and culverts due to flooding from the combined effects of sea level rise and storm surge.

WHG will employ the state-of-the-art Massachusetts Coast Flood Risk Model (MC FRM) to identify vulnerable road segments under different sea level rise scenarios and time scales. One output from this work is a projection of the probability and extent of flooding at the present, 2030, 2050, and 2070.

Meeting 1 (Feb 2022)
 

  Presentation: Bourne Low Lying Roads Presentation 

Meeting (Mar 2023)

Presentation: Bourne Low Lying Roads Presentation 

Launch Viewer in Separate Window
 

 

The Low Lying Roads Map Viewer is an interactive tool which allows the user to view the data outputs of the low lying roads analysis in a visual map format. The Map Viewer also allows the user to provide comments directly on the map to register observations about flooding or erosion issues in town.

To use the Map Viewer, click on the link above and navigate around the map, clicking data layers on or off using the Layers tab. To add comments or observations about flooding or erosion, follow the steps below:

  1. Make sure the "Comment" Layer you want to use is TURNED ON in the Layers TAB
  2. Choose the Editor button and pick the appropriate issue (Flooding or Erosion)
  3. Click on the area you would like to comment on
  4. Fill out the form
  5. Submit!

High Priority Road Segments

The table below presents a first cut of priority road segments identified through a GIS analysis examining future flood projections together with an assessment of roadway importance and function (roadway “criticality”). “Segment Storm Probability” shows the percent chance that road segment will be flooded during the different future time horizons. “Nuisance Length” indicates, where data is shown, what length of road may be flooded under future sunny-day high tides. The data is the result of an analysis performed by the Woods Hole Group using the Massachusetts Coast Flood Risk Model.

Bourne Low Lying Roads High Priority Segments

 

Adaptation Strategies Analysis

Following the workshop last spring, town staff identified two priority road segments to carry forward into the design process for this project. Adaptation solutions for each of the prioritized road segments include analysis of four alternative strategies: gray infrastructure, green infrastructure, a hybrid approach, and managed retreat (abandonment or relocation).

 

Conceptual Design Options

The conceptual design plans for each prioritized road segment and their associated adaptation solutions are available in these documents:

 Circuit Avenue

 Wings Neck Road

 

The Cape Cod Commission is accepting comments on proposed conceptual designs for prioritized road segments identified in the Low Lying Roads Project. To provide comments, visit the form linked below.

Public Comment Form

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