Jul 6th 2021 | Posted in Water Projects by Government Contracting Pipeline

Florida – Monroe County officials approved a $1.8 billion plan to address sea-level rise as the Florida Keys community braces for increased flooding and property loss over the coming decades.

Florida Keys flooding

Its resolution reaffirms the use of the updated Unified Regional Sea Level Rise Projects of the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact and direct staff to use the updated projections as the basis for sea level rise adaptation planning.

Mean sea level rise above the 2000 mean sea level in Key West is projected to be 10 to 17 inches by 2040, 21 to 54 inches by 2070, and 40 to 136 inches by 2120.
The county’s action this month charts a course to spend funds that it does not currently have to elevate 150 miles of roads and install more drains, pump stations, and vegetation to repel seawater.
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) feasibility study in February recommended $2.55 billion in projects with a 65 percent federal funding match of $1.66 billion to elevate 4,697 structures and floodproof 1,130 commercial structures and 48 critical infrastructure buildings.
USACE anticipates completing the study in September and seeking Congressional approval for construction, project appropriations, and cost sharing after 2021.