Editor’s note: This is the first blog post by our new Research Assistant, Anna Durrett.
Last week’s end of the government shutdown will bring needed disaster recovery funds to Colorado. The deal that reopened the government included $450 million for rebuilding transportation infrastructure in Colorado devastated by flooding last month.
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Floodwater destroys a bridge along Highway 34 toward Estes Park, Colorado, on September 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Colorado Heli-Ops, Dennis Pierce) See more photos of flooding here. |
If you would like to come see our Emriver models in Denver at the Colorado Convention Center, we’ll be there from Sunday, Oct. 27 to Wednesday, Oct. 30. You can email me at anna.lrrd at gmail dot com for all the details.
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Nathan talks with GSA attendees in 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina. |
Editor’s addition – June 20, 2019. Information about how Emriver models are being used in flood mitigation work in the Northeast.
Following 2011 Tropical Storm Irene and the loss of many roads and bridges throughout the state, Vermont saw the need to improve how their infrastructure is built. What resulted is now their very successful Rivers and Roads Program, a partnership between the Vermont Agencies of Natural Resources and Vermont Agency of Transportation.
The program uses Emriver models during two-day workshops for municipal roads departments, private sector engineers, and heavy equipment contractors. The models are used to teach how rivers work, and how to design, construct, and maintain roads and bridges to create greater river stability and more flood-resilient transportation infrastructure.
The ability to demonstrate and test various flood scenarios and how channel, culvert, and bridge designs are affected are lessons that stick with the workers and help them implement what they’ve learned in their jobs. This has been very effective for flood mitigation work. Rivers and Roads has been so effective that other states and federal agencies are duplicating the program.
Click here for more information about this project.