Climate Change Vulnerability Analysis for Rural Road Culverts

Project Overview

To better prepare for the future, Yuba County is conducting a Climate Change Vulnerability Analysis for Rural Road Culverts, which will analyze the vulnerability of approximately 4,000 rural road culverts under County-owned and maintained roadways. 

Many rural areas in Yuba County are beginning to experience localized flooding, driven by inadequate culverts, disrupting transportation and creating safety issues. In the past 100 years, storms evolved in shape, duration, and intensity, with changes anticipated to continue due to climate change. During precipitation events, many of the existing culverts have insufficient capacity to convey the peak runoff which causes water to back up on to adjacent, upstream properties and flood the overlaying roadway. This creates dangerous conditions for motorized and non-motorized traffic. Flooded roadway sections create a safety hazard by forcing bicycle and pedestrian traffic into the travel lanes with motor vehicles, cause catastrophic road failures, disrupts transit services, disrupts transportation, interrupts farming activities, disrupts the movement of goods, damages private properties, damages local roadways, and increases costs for road maintenance and cleanup costs.

Community feedback will be an essential part of the process to help ensure community values are integrated with transportation safety and meet the needs of rural residents. Yuba County thanks those who have provided input and will continue refining project details and coordinating implementation.

Additional information about this project is available via the online open house