Across our footprint and client sectors, VHB helps clients understand and reduce climate risk through vulnerability assessments and resilience recommendations. Below are five recent assessments supporting transportation agencies and municipalities.
Transit & Rail: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Commuter Rail Signal and Dispatch Equipment Vulnerability Assessment | Boston, MA
VHB is conducting a vulnerability assessment of MBTA Commuter Rail signal and dispatch equipment at South Station in Boston and the Cobble Hill Operations Center in East Somerville. We began by documenting critical assets, related dependencies, and operational needs for a system that serves about 122,000 weekday riders. Next, we are evaluating exposure to storm surge, flooding, heat, high winds, storms, and wildfire, then ranking risk. The project will conclude with adaptation recommendations, such as nature-based solutions, asset hardening, and operational redundancies.
Aviation: San Juan Airport Vulnerability Assessment | San Juan, PR
VHB is conducting a climate vulnerability assessment for Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU) to help strengthen resilience. The team is working to identify key threats—tropical hurricanes , ,sea level rise, storm surge, and increasingly intense precipitation events and evaluate how flooding and wave impacts from these threats could affect airport operations and the surrounding community. VHB is also assessing the airport’s adaptive capacity and will deliver a phased set of mitigation and adaptation strategies.
Team, can you send me a few of these pictures to accompany the article? I especially like the one of the plane landing.
Municipality: Town of Wayne Flood Vulnerability Assessment | Wayne, ME
Rising climate-driven water levels at several ponds prompted the Town of Wayne to launch a flood vulnerability assessment focused on culvert crossings and access to evacuation routes for vulnerable populations. VHB is evaluating social, natural, and water-quality considerations; engaging stakeholders to identify critical assets and risk drivers; and developing recommendations to reduce vulnerability. Before the assessment began, VHB helped the Town secure a Community Action Grant to fund the work.
Transportation Agency: Massachusetts Roadway Resiliency Screening Assessment Pilot | Massachusetts
VHB is partnering with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) to create a consistent, data-driven way to evaluate roadway resilience statewide. We are piloting a method to assess roadway criticality and establish the groundwork for a complementary vulnerability assessment. Together, these efforts will produce a resiliency score for each roadway, combining criticality with expected climate vulnerability.
VHB completed a climate vulnerability assessment for Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to better understand climate impacts on employees, visitors, services, facilities, and assets. Extreme weather and shifting patterns have already strained energy systems and increased flooding and safety risks—pressures expected to grow. Our summary report documents the analysis and stakeholder engagement and highlights key findings. Building on that work, VHB continues to support the airport as it prioritizes adaptation measures for capital planning.
To learn more about VHB’s climate resiliency and vulnerability assessment services, contact:
