Highlands Ranch, Colo., June 14, 2018 – Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to sustainable infrastructure. A new report released by the University of Massachusetts Boston Sustainable Solutions Lab on May 29 concludes that, while harbor barrier systems have helped other coastal cities, a Boston Harbor sea barrier that could cost more than $11 billion and take 30 years to construct would have limited benefits compared to the alternative of investing in smaller, shore-based resiliency projects.
Arcadis managed three components of the study, including evaluating the barrier's engineering feasibility, its constructability and a cost-benefit analysis of the expected economic impacts due to coastal flooding with and without the barrier alternatives in place. Hugh Roberts, area leader for Arcadis' water business, says the analysis found that shore-based coastal protection is the best strategy. Roberts says the "we found that a harbor-wide barrier system is not an effective coastal risk reduction strategy for a number of reasons, including being technically impractical, less effective, and cost prohibitive versus continued investment in shore-based coastal protection solutions.”
Read the full article here in Engineering News-Record.