MB Cloud wins Protect grant to assess local infrastructure vulnerability across 94 towns

Regional planners announced that MB Cloud was awarded a USDOT Protect grant to develop a vulnerability assessment and resilience plan for local infrastructure, staff said Feb. 5.

Mark (regional planning staff) told the committee the Protect project focuses on local assets — local roads, bridges and culverts vulnerable to inland flooding — rather than state-owned facilities. MB Cloud is partnering with three other COGs to cover the northern half of Connecticut: a combined area of 94 communities and roughly 1.6 million residents.

The study will identify high-priority local assets, create a toolkit of mitigation concepts and feed findings into local hazard mitigation plans and future federal funding applications for infrastructure repairs or upgrades. Staff said the agreement is signed at the regional level and they plan to release an RFQ for consultant work soon.

Why it matters: the study will produce a data-driven vulnerability index across many municipalities and help towns identify high-priority locations that could be eligible for federal mitigation funding; staff emphasized outreach to municipal emergency managers, public works and inland-wetlands officials.

Next steps: Towns should prepare any maps or lists of local culverts and drainage assets; staff will reach out to municipal contacts to request those data and to coordinate deeper site assessments for high-index locations.