On Tuesday, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) said it will host workshops focusing on resiliency.
The two public workshops will help the RTC get community feedback on the commission’s Climate Adaptation Vulnerability Assessment and Priorities Report (CAVA) project. The report, developed in partnership with the county of Santa Cruz Department of Community Development & Infrastructure, and the Santa Cruz County Office of Response, Recovery and Resiliency identifies transportation and infrastructure assets like roads, bridges and trails within the county that could be impacted by climate hazards. The report goes further by identifying the which of those assets should undergo more detailed analysis for climate adaptation first, and which ones can be placed further down the priority list.
The county, officials said, is experiencing the impact of extreme weather events like flooding, wildfires, sea level rise, coastal erosion and extreme temperatures. Those climate change impacts are not only increasing at an alarming rate, the county said, but area having an impact on the county’s transportation system.
“We need to plan for the impacts of climate change on transportation to minimize impacts on county residents,” RTC officials said in a statement.
Santa Cruz county residents and other community members are welcome to attend one of the workshops to further their understanding of how those impacts are already being felt, as well as how the county developed methodology for prioritizing future adaptation projects for the county’s transportation infrastructure. The workshops will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m., on Oct. 25 and 26, in Watsonville and in Felton, respectively.