An 8-mile stretch of California's Highway 1 in Monterey County is so vulnerable to climate change that state transportation officials are considering elevating the road.
The Highway 1 Elkhorn Slough Corridor Climate Resiliency Project, which has received a $2.25 million grant from the California Department of Transportation, will look at ways to make the road more resilient to storm surges and sea-level rise, reports the Monterey Herald.
Nearly 40,000 vehicles drive on the two-lane road every day.
The stretch of road runs through a tidal salt marsh that's the third-largest tidal salt marsh in California, and is home to more than 20,000 migratory birds, as well as the largest nesting area for the snowy plover in the state, reports the San Jose Mercury News.
The railroad tracks that run along the Slough are vulnerable to being flooded during king tides, which are key to freight travel and the planned expansion of passenger rail service, says the executive director of the Transportation Agency for Monterey County.
In 2020, the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments and the Nature Conservancy put together a report that looked at ways to elevate the road while preserving the ecosystem of the tidal salt marsh.
The initial $1 million in state funding was to build on that report and create " actionable plans for viable construction projects that consider the ecology
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