What was the technology/innovation used to complete this project and why is it innovative?
NCDOT’s flood warning system includes three independent systems that work in concert to provide flood vulnerability information about the roadway network. T-SAPP (Transportation Surge Analysis Predictive Program) provides predictive roadway inundation days before and up to hurricane landfall by combining output from ADCIRC (ocean circulation model) in a dynamic GIS platform. As coastal areas, rivers and streams rise, FIMAN-T (Flood Inundation Mapping Alert Network for Transportation) and BridgeWatch work together and monitor and report flood vulnerability to roads, bridges, and culverts in real-time. The programs reside on independent platforms that provide redundancy and increase reliability.
What did the customer (the user of the system) gain by utilizing this innovation/technology? How did it impact the project in a way that would not have been possible without it?
NCDOT staff and emergency management personnel who use this flood warning system gain the ability to know when flood waters will or are impacting critical assets on the transportation network. This ability was non-existent just a few years ago. Today, more than 11,000 miles of road network and over 15,000 bridges and culverts are being monitored for flood vulnerability. The flood warning system allows NCDOT to position and dispatch resources more effectively, helping the Department respond to and recover from flood-induced disruptions more quickly.
