FDOT State Highway System Resilience Action Plan

Florida

Michael Baker acted as the consultant team project manager providing meeting support, writing, review, plan editing and design of public engagement activities for the development of the Florida Department of Transportation State Highway System (SHS) Resilience Action Plan. Acting as a subject matter expert on this project, the team assisted with a vulnerability assessment of the state highway system, a review of all policies and procedures for resilience, and the development of strategies to improve the resilience of the state’s transportation system.

The plan focused on potential hazards that could impact the highway system and communities it serves, including storm surge, flooding from rainfall and sea level rise.

The plan focuses on the 12,121 roadway centerline miles on the SHS, which accounts for about 10% of Florida’s nearly 124,000 centerline miles of public roads. The Resilience Action Plan recommends strategies to enhance infrastructure and operational resilience, design changes to retrofit existing state highway facilities, and enhancements of partnerships to address multijurisdictional resilience needs.

Development of the plan included four key activities: alignment with long-range and policy plans; systematic review of the client’s existing policies, procedures, manuals, tools and guidance documents; assessment of the SHS’s vulnerabilities to certain water-related hazards; and collaboration with internal and external partners to identify strategies to improve resilience on the SHS.

Michael Baker collaborated on the development of the technical approach of the assessment and contributed to document production. For the final written sections of the documentation, the team provided review and editing services.

The strategy will enable Florida to apply the full range of its workforce, technology and financial resources to enhance the resilience of the client’s system. Michael Baker’s project management and expertise in resilience activities allowed the primary contractor to focus on the technical needs to ensure the timely delivery of the project.