Real-Time Flood Warning as a Mitigation Measure at Hazardous Road Crossings

The City of Fort Worth has been implementing real-time flood warning as one of several mitigation measures to improve flood safety at flood prone road crossings. The City’s flood warning system consists of automated flood monitoring equipment that trigger road side beacon flashers that alert approaching drivers about the flood hazard, and notifications to first responders and the public. Since capital improvement projects to bring road crossings to 100-year protection levels are expensive to construct, safety measures such as lighting, guard rails, street markings, approach signs, and flood warning systems are being used to increase safety at flood prone road crossings through the Hazardous Road Overtopping Mitigation (HROM) project. The HROM project will expand the City’s flood warning system from the existing network which consists of 21 dedicated weather, 5 lake-weather monitoring, and 55 road side flasher sites. In this presentation, I will discuss the City’s flood warning aspects of the HROM project, enhancements being made to the system, efforts at real-time notifications to drivers approaching the hazardous crossings, and example response during past storm events.