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Islamorada reviews $719 million roads‑elevation plan, officials stress study is advisory
Summary
HDR and WSP presented a village roads vulnerability and adaptation study recommending 19 project areas covering about 32 miles, with planning‑level costs of $719.3 million and design assumptions through 2050. Council was told the plan is advisory and intended to make projects grant‑ready.
Council members on June 9 received a multiagency roads vulnerability and elevation report that maps when parts of Islamorada’s local roadway network will be at risk from tide and rainfall flooding and shows how the village could prioritize projects over the next 25 years.
Melissa Enriquez, lead for HDR’s village study, said the team used a two‑step approach — a vulnerability assessment and a criticality ranking — to identify 19 project areas covering about 32 miles of village roadways. “This study evaluates different types of flood risk including tidal flooding, rainfall‑driven flooding and when those risks may impact the village’s roads based on their current condition,” Enriquez said.
The planning‑level summary the consultants presented estimates total preliminary costs of about $719.3 million, an average of roughly $22 million per mile, and groups project areas by near‑term (2030–2035) and later (2040–2050) implementation windows. Consultants flagged that the estimates exclude long‑term operations and maintenance and include a 20% contingency to capture unknown permitting, easement and utility relocation costs.
Greg Cording of WSP described typical design options for raising roadways and managing runoff: valley gutters collecting roadway runoff, pump stations with water‑quality separation, and shallow injection wells to dispose treated water. He emphasized the need to coordinate with the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Department of Transportation to meet permitting and design standards. “We have to capture and treat any runoff and then route it to a pump station,” Cording said, noting engineered treatment is needed to avoid adverse impacts to adjacent private properties.
Consultants stressed the report is not a mandatory capital program. “This is not a required capital program that the village has to undertake,” Enriquez told the council. Instead, the study provides prioritized, shovel‑ready conceptual designs and budgets designed to improve the village’s competitiveness for state and federal grant programs.
Next steps: staff will finalize the deliverables after municipal input and post interactive viewers on the project website (keysroadsplan.com) with added clarity on elevation datums and projections. Council members asked staff to make the NAVD88 vs. NGVD29 datum clear in the public viewer so residents can interpret local elevations relative to flood‑insurance and county mapping.
