2010- Danish publications

The Road Directory: The Blue Spot Concept - Methods to predict and handle flooding on highways

Flooding poses a great threat to roads, and may in severe cases lead to massive obstruction to traffic and damages to the road structures themselves. The SWAMP project targets the critical issues of finding the most vulnerable parts of the road network, called blue spots, and how to prepare them for flooding. Floods have always occurred through history and always will. Identifying and improving road sections to flooding are of great value. The objectives of the SWAMP project are two parted. Part 1; determine the structure and requirements of a GIS-model to find blue spots. Part 2; produce guidelines on how to reduce vulnerability to flooding at blue spots. In addition, a literature review was carried out, as well as a directed study of climate change modelling and its outcomes and uncertainties.

The Road Directory: Background report - Literature, questionnaire and data collection for blue spot identification
The focus of this report is to gather information on background knowledge and to support and create a reliable base for Report 3 and Report 4. One part of the background report was to understand and describe how the climate change models are working and what the predicted changes and main uncertainties are. Another objective was to collect experiences from other countries in Europe with respect to flooded roads, guidelines for inspection and maintenance, and how other road authorities are coping with flooded roads. This was done by sending out a questionnaire. The outcome is a comprehensive guideline for inspection and maintenance.

The Road Directory: The Blue Spot model - Development of a screening method to assess flood risk on highways
A method to assess flood risk on Danish national roads in a large area in the middle and southern part of Jutland, Denmark, was developed for the Danish Road Directorate. Flood risk has gained renewed focus due to the climate changes in recent years and extreme rain events are expected to become more frequent in the future. The assessment was primarily based on a digital terrain model (DTM) covering 7500 square kilometres in a 1.6 x 1.6 m grid. The high-resolution terrain model was chosen in order to get an accurate estimation of the potential flooding in the road area and in the immediate vicinity, but that means a high requirement of the methods, hardware and software applied. The outcome of the analysis was detailed maps (as GIS layers) illustrating the location of depressions with depths, surface area and volume data for each depression. Furthermore, preferential flow paths, catchment boundaries and ranking of each depression were calculated.

The Road Directory: Inspection and maintenance - Guide for reducing vulnerability due to flooding of roads
Early in the SWAMP project a questionnaire was sent out to persons in eleven countries, all working with roads, in order to ensure an international perspective and to learn from others. Questions were asked about what were considered problematic parts of the drainage system, experiences with flooding and whether guidelines for design and maintenance of road drainage systems existed. It was clear from the answers that inadequate maintenance was believed to be the main reason for road failures in connection to flooding. 
 

This report will give guidance and instructions for engineers and people in charge of inspection, maintenance and repair, and it can also be useful for decision makers responsible for renewal of the drainage system. Furthermore it contains instructions on how to perform the work in the field in a systematic way over the season, and how to prepare the road system before, during and after a heavy rain event.

Socio-economic Screening of Climate Change Adaptation - SUMMARY (Pdf)
This screening looks at climate adaptation across the 14 sectors dealt with in the government's climate change adaptation strategy from 2008. The objective of the screening is to give an overall picture of the magnitude of the climate change impacts and the associated damage costs or benefits, and possible adaption measures at play in the sectors. The screening also relates to whether adaptation can take place within the existing regulatory framework.