Flood Vulnerability Evaluation for the Blue Line Rapid Transit Line between Aquarium Station and Maverick Portal
Under our existing MBTA Task Order Contract for Climate Resilience Consulting Services, Weston & Sampson was selected to evaluate flood vulnerability for the Blue Line Rapid Transit Line between Aquarium Station and Maverick Portal.
As part of this task order, our project team is responsible for the following tasks:
- Reviewing the existing Blue Line vulnerability assessment and Boston Harbor Flood Risk Model (BH-FRM), as well as existing engineering and maintenance (E&M) records.
- Performing a site survey and inspection of the existing conditions between Aquarium Station and Maverick Portal to identify stormwater and groundwater flood vulnerabilities.
- Conducting hydraulic modeling and preparing tunnel flooding maps to identify targeted resilience measures.
- Determining resilience recommendations, both engineering and operational, to mitigate flood risk.
Our approach is focused on multiple levels of resiliency and includes layers of built-in contingencies. The project goal is to design feasible solutions that tie into the MBTA’s existing system and infrastructure, operations, E&M practices, and environmental considerations. Our efforts for this task include evaluating short-term solutions that emphasize protection and recovery, as well as consider working with external stakeholders on larger, long-term district-wide and regional-based solutions. Together with our team of professionals from Arup; Woods Hole Group; Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.; Keville Enterprises; and a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) comprised of professors from local universities, Weston & Sampson is developing innovative and tailored solutions for transit-related resilience.