Resiliency Planning: Prioritizing the Vulnerability of Coastal Bridges to Flooding and Scour

Bridge owners are faced with the daunting task of maintaining or replacing aging infrastructure over the next century. Added to this challenge are climate change projections such as rising sea levels. A major concern to bridge owners is the need to strengthen the resiliency of their bridges while utilizing a limited amount of financial resources. This paper will offer a methodology for prioritizing the vulnerability to flooding and scour for a state department of transportation's bridge inventory. Through the use of geographic information system (GIS) software, data is mined from the National Bridge Inventory (NBI) - making this methodology applicable to any state agency in the country. The New York City metropolitan region will be presented as a case study.