Meeting on Roads and Erosion

Erosion threatens Highway 101 at Beverly Beach.\Photo by Dennis White.

The state’s Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) and its Coastal Management Program have convened an advisory committee to consider a very specific problem—protecting roads along the ocean, from Hwy 101 to local streets, that are at risk due to erosion of the shoreline.  Oregon Shores is tracking this “ocean-facing roads committee” with interest.  The final meeting of the committee takes place on Thursday, March 17, from 2-5 p.m.  The public can listen in.  The agenda for this meeting will depend on the results of an earlier meeting that took place in January.

DLCD is working its way toward rule-making on this matter, due to an oversight in the current land use laws.  In spelling out what types of properties are eligible for shoreline armoring when threatened, the drafters of our original land use regulations forgot to mention roads.  That would theoretically mean that crucial infrastructure like Hwy 101 couldn’t be protected.

Oregon Shores views this process with wariness.  Yes, roads in many areas are threatened by erosion, increasingly so with sea level rise due to global warming.  Coastal communities are presently constituted couldn’t survive without the lifeline of Hwy 101.  On the other hand, erosion will continue relentlessly, and making it easier to armor roads with riprap or other protection structures could mask the need to accept the inevitable and move the infrastructure.

To find more information about the committee and the issue, go to this website.

To attend the online meeting of the committee, you will find it livestreamed on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/user/OregonDLCD