Roadway flooding is an emerging and increasing risk that results in traffic disruption, commercial impact, and public safety hazards. The flood risk ranges from high frequency (e.g., nuisance or tidal) roadway flooding to less frequent, but more impactful, storm-related flooding.

BCE teamed with GZA in the Government Liaison role on the Virtual RISE Resilience Innovation Accelerator Program to help refine the business plan for the solution proposed to the RISE Urban Mobility Resilience Challenge.

The RISE Urban Mobility Resilience Challenge seeks solutions that bring automated, real-time flood-avoidance information to drivers of private, commercial, and emergency vehicles, as well as public transportation, using smartphone-based routing platforms (i.e. Waze, Google Maps, and others).

Our shared goal and objective was/is to model, forecast and proactively adapt to variable floods and extreme storm events. The GZA team developed an efficient geospatial data processor with output files compatible for distribution to Navigation Apps, ESRI, electric signage, notification emails, virtual assistant AI technology, and operational dashboards.

Highlights:

• Forecast analyses utilize available atmospheric and model data developed and published by the National Weather Service (NWS).
• The geospatial data processor was coupled with networks of water level sensors that monitor and forecast water level data;
• The processed output includes real-time prediction of roadway flooding (location and depth).