Region gets PROTECT authorization for local-asset resilience study; inventory to prioritize vulnerable small bridges and culverts

Committee members were briefed on a PROTECT grant project to inventory and assess vulnerabilities of small bridges, culverts and other local infrastructure and to produce prioritized lists for funding and mitigation.

Regional grants staff said the PROTECT award had reached the authorization-to-proceed stage and that they were selecting consultants to carry out an inventory and vulnerability assessment across multiple regional councils of governments. "The intent of this is to look at vulnerability of small bridges, culverts, any kind of infrastructure that it may be vulnerable to, flying from a major storm event. And it focuses on just on local roads, local assets," a staff member said.

Staff described using an inventory tool that rates condition and vulnerability to generate an index of most-at-risk structures. They told the committee the preliminary universe of local assets to review is roughly 9,000 structures and that the team’s initial task will be to pare that list to the most vulnerable for detailed assessment.

Staff discussed a project budget figure of about $1.2 million when the application was assembled and said the project would be regionally coordinated with four MPOs, focused on local assets that are often closer to streams and more susceptible to flooding. The project was described as an opportunity to develop priority lists that municipalities could use when applying for resilience and infrastructure funding.