BARC, BCDC and partners announce release of Adapting to Rising Tides (ART) Bay Area

Last week, BARC and its partners announced the release of Adapting to Rising Tides (ART) Bay Area, the first-ever regional comparison of the impacts of rising sea level on people, the environment, and the regional systems we rely on. This report provides a better understanding of where we are vulnerable and lays out a pathway to plan for the future.

ART Bay Area illuminates potential impacts of flooding to four critical region-wide systems: transportation, future growth areas, natural lands, and vulnerable communities.The analysis was based on 32 local deep-dive studies analyzing a total of ten different flood levels, as well as input from nearly 600 community members, nonprofit organizations, city and county planners, business representatives, elected officials, and state and federal staff.

BARC was a partner and project manager on the ART Bay Area project, which was completed over the past three years. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) partnered with BCDC and BARC to write a proposal for a Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant and was awarded $800,000 to develop a regional adaptation planning process aimed at increasing the resilience of the region’s transportation and community assets. The Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) is contributing $400,000 in matching funds, resulting in a $1.2 million grant for this work, which was conducted beginning in the spring of 2017. 

The report is available on the ART Bay Area website in both a short version and a full version.