Coastal infrastructureRural towns lose to urban centers in competition for coastal protection funding
Infrastructure protection planners say there are only three ways coastal communities can defend themselves against rising sea levels: defend the shoreline with both natural and man-made barriers; raise key infrastructure such as buildings and roads; or retreat from the shoreline. Each of these options costs a fortune to follow. Smaller, more rural coastal communities in many states are finding that they are having a hard time competing with more powerful interests in coastal urban cities over funding for protection against sea-level rise.
Smaller, more rural coastal communities in many states are finding that they are having a hard time competing with more powerful interests in coastal urban cities over funding for protection against sea-level rise.
As Insurance Journal reports, following the advice from coastal engineers that cities have three primary options to counter rising sea levels, many are jostling in line for the means to enact those changes — and often the “little guy” is the one most usually squeezed out.
The advice from these infrastructure protection planners includes defending the shoreline with both natural and man-made barriers, raising key infrastructure such as buildings and roads, or retreat from the shoreline. Neither option is particularly appealing for city planners or town officials, since all of them cost a fortune to follow choose.
“Little places like us, there’s not going to be any help for us because whatever resources are available will be sucked up by the big cities to try to defend them,” said Grayson Chesser, the Accomack County supervisor in Virginia. He looks toward examples like New York City, which has invested $20 billion dollars in a series of sea walls and piping, or nearby Virginia Beach, which, as a larger metropolis, has received $150 million in sand projects and beach reconstruction since 1996.
“It’s becoming more and more competitive for federal funds in terms of protecting communities,” said Curtis Smith, with the Accomack-Northampton Planning District, “[Saxis is] competing with Miami, New York and Virginia Beach.”
Virginian coastal wetlands are not only largely rural, but a prime example of an area in the country which is increasingly being eroded away by the Atlantic Ocean. Saxis, Virginia, is a prime example of such damage. Currently, the shoreline is being eroded away at the rate of three-to-five feet per year.
Offices such as the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) are trying to address the problem and find solutions, acknowledging that they are internally addressing the question of increased flooding in “low-volume, low-population areas.” According to Chris Isdell, a VDOT representative within Accomack County, it does raise difficult questions.
“You’re trying to fight back Mother Nature,” he said, “How do you do that in a roadway that sits at sea level?”
Even Chesser sees the budget disparity as a major problem, highlighting an age-old truth.
“I wish I could say I thought Saxis would be saved, but there’s no way. It costs so much money. And even if you spend the money, I don’t think you can do it. I mean, you just can’t beat the ocean. You’re going to lose every time.”
