SLR Potential Flooded Highways - 0.5 Ft. Scenario

Vulnerability was assessed for the main Hawaiian Islands using the outputs of coastal hazard exposure modeling (provided separately). Potential impacts to coastal highways and major roads were assessed in terms of exposure to chronic flooding in the sea level rise exposure area (SLR-XA) for four future sea level rise scenarios: 0.5 foot, 1.1 foot, 2.0 feet and 3.2 feet based on the upper end of the IPCC AR5 RCP8.5 projections. This particular layer depicts floodway highways and major roads using the 0.5-ft (0.1660-m) sea level rise scenario. While the RCP8.5 predicts that this scenario would be reached by the year 2030, questions remain around the exact timing of sea level rise and recent observations and projections suggest a sooner arrival. Data compiled by the Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS) for the Hawaii Sea Level Rise Viewer hosted at https://pacioos.org/shoreline/slr-hawaii/. For further information, please see the Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report: https://climateadaptation.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/SLR-Report_Dec2017.pdf.