The Gulf of Maine is an international watershed in the North Atlantic stretching north from Provincetown at the tip of Massachusetts Bay in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to Cape Sable on the Bay of Fundy in the province of Nova Scotia in Canada. For over 13,000 years, the Gulf has been developed around access to the coast for fishing, trading, and recreation. Today, these coastal development patterns put the cultural landscapes, economies, communities, and aging infrastructure systems along the Gulf at risk.
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Climate Futures on the Gulf of Maine uses place-based scenario planning to illustrate the risks, vulnerabilities, and plausible futures for ten infrastructure systems along the rim of the Gulf. Place-based scenario planning is a method of long-term strategic planning that creates representations of multiple, plausible futures that are used to inform decision-making in the present. While complementary to probabilistic models used to forecast future vulnerabilities, scenario-based planning shifts emphasis from statistical probability to ways of thinking about the future. The goal of place-based scenario planning is not to predict the most likely outcome, but to reveal biases and blind spots in complex and non-linear situations.
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Climate Futures uses the medium of landscape representation to surface the cultural value systems embedded in existing infrastructural systems, and position landscape as a driver when evaluating design from individual infrastructures to the Gulf of Maine watershed.
While a dike elevation project around Hatches Harbor faces delays, the Provincetown Airport Commission erected a permanent flood barrier around the runway and terminal buildings. The tarmac is resurfaced and cisterns are buried to harvest water during heavy storms. Emergency evacuation services remain limited due to increasing flooding, particularly during storms, along Route 6.
Provincetown Municipal Airport defended using fortified resilience strategies.
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Scenario 1
FORTIFIED SYSTEMS
Fortified Systems defends and upgrades existing infrastructure systems in-situ with a combination of green and gray resilience strategies. The scenario anticipates reactive decision-making in response to disasters and funding availability, and investigates strategies to armor, double up, buffer, and protect existing systems.
A pile-supported span bridge is installed across the reconnected Machias and Middle Rivers. US-Route 1 shares the bridge with the Sunrise Trail and a protected pedestrian walkway. Beneath the bridge, tidal flow and fish passage are restored. The project is completed in tandem with an armoring project around downtown Machias that installs revetments and seawalls around the wastewater treatment plant, residences, and businesses.
US-Route 1 Dike Bridge #2246 defended using fortified resilience strategies.
A reinforced bridge is installed across the Salmon River, ensuring rail access east of Truro to Halifax.
Salmon River Railway Bridge defended using fortified resilience strategies.
The seawall surrounding Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant is raised and reinforced with a stone revetment. The emergency access roads leading to the Plant are elevated. Solar panels are installed to charge batteries that can supplement emergency diesel generators during storms.
Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant defended using fortified resilience strategies.
A berm and revetment are installed to protect the Saco Water Treatment Plant from flooding. This is critical to avoid contaminating cleaned water at the Plant with sewage from combined sewer overflows during storms.
Saco Water Treatment Plant defended using fortified resilience strategies.
The City of Gloucester invests in an earthen berm to protect the upgraded secondary wastewater treatment system from flooding. Simultaneously, Essex Avenue is elevated on pylons salt marsh along the banks of the Annisquam River, which is transitioning to open water. The plant’s operations continue to be interrupted by flooding at sewer pump stations around the larger Cape Ann region.
Gloucester Wastewater Treatment Plant defended using fortified resilience strategies.
The subsea electric cable running from Stonington to Isle au Haut is cut after the Isle au Haut Electric Power Company installs 1,440 solar panels in a microgrid cut into the forest. A backup diesel generator is available to provide electricity in emergency situations. Internet is provided by private satellite internet service.
Isle au Haut Microgrid site defended using fortified resilience strategies.
Following federal funding approval, the causeway to Sears Island is reinforced with stone revetment to ensure that the turbine staging area and wind farm developed on the west side of Sears Island are accessible at all times and tides.
Sears Island defended using fortified resilience strategies.
A stone revetment and flood barrier are installed to protect the helipad and parking lots that service Yarmouth Regional Hospital, which continues to expand its operations as a regional hub. A terraced system of wetlands filters run-off before it reaches the ocean around the hospital.
Yarmouth Regional Hospital defended using fortified resilience strategies.
The Lubec Consolidated School and adjacent Community Outreach Center are elevated with five feet of freeboard. During storms, water passes under the building.
Lubec Community School defended using fortified resilience strategies.
