Iowa DOT Riverine Infrastructure Data Base (RIDB) for Rapid Assessment of Vulnerable Infrastructure, 21-SPR0-004, 2024

(2024) Iowa DOT Riverine Infrastructure Data Base (RIDB) for Rapid Assessment of Vulnerable Infrastructure, 21-SPR0-004, 2024. Transportation, Department of

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Abstract

During flood events, it can be difficult to find relevant hydrologic and hydraulic information for assessing the vulnerability of infrastructure. In many cases, the information is not available or can be very time-consuming to obtain and evaluate. Without good information regarding the hydraulic relationship between infrastructure and flood discharges, it is difficult to be proactive with regard to the protection of lives, property, and infrastructure. The Riverine Infrastructure Database (RIDB) is an effort the Iowa DOT started around 2008, after widespread flooding in the central and eastern parts of Iowa, to begin the collection of data to support rapid assessment of infrastructure during flooding events. The Iowa DOT provided the research team two sources of data including a spatial database and file database to support the effort to create the RIDB as a relational database in a geographical information system (GIS) environment. Using the provided data, Python scripts were developed to extract relevant data from the file database for over 270 sites including a site summary, feature summary, frequency curves, and one or more rating curves to further the development of the RIDB. The RIDB developed from the data is made up of multiple interconnected layers and tables that represent the stream network and infrastructure in Iowa and that help to identify locations where flooding may have impacts. An architecture was developed for the RIDB system, including the core process developed to continuously monitor flooding impacts. Using stream flows provided by the IFC’s HLM, the system has the ability to utilize the rating curves for each infrastructure feature to quickly determine whether the stream flows will result in features or controls being overtopped or whether the flow will be over the critical discharge level that may result in scour. The RIDB developed as part of this project shows how maintaining a database of hydraulic and infrastructure data can support an agency in assessing the vulnerability of infrastructure during high-stress flooding events. The RIDB can also support scenario planning to allow the Iowa DOT to directly input stream flows or stage values to assess potential impacts across the network. The RIDB also supports additional resiliency analysis, as the flood frequency curves can be used to determine what severity of flooding events will impact infrastructure.