Published works

Bridges, culverts, and floodways are vital road infrastructures for the operation of a road network. Their application may vary based on geographic and demographic features of the territory. Floodways are common in rural road networks as they provide economic and environmental friendly solutions over bridges and culverts. Floodways play a significant role in the economy of a country by connecting regional communities, farmlands and agricultural areas to city centers. For example, 48% of total agricultural production in Australia in 2006 had been produced from regional council areas, those covering only about 6.9% of Australia’s population, 11% of total Australian land mass and 24% of roads in length [1]. Floodways are common in most of these rural road networks and, hence, play a vital role to distribute agricultural and farming products to highly populated city centers. Therefore, healthy operational levels of floodways are of paramount importance to maintain the continuous supply of essential commodities and the economic balance of Australia.

Floodways are different from bridges and culverts in the design and operational aspects. By definition, floodways are sections of roads which have been designed to be overtopped by floodwater during relatively low average recurrence interval (ARI) floods and are expected to return to fully serviceable level after the flood water recedes [2]. Although, floodways are designed to withstand at low flood levels, extreme natural disasters can damage these vital road infrastructures as evident from the 2011 and 2013 Queensland flood events. 58% of floodway structures in the Lockyer Valley Regional Council (LVRC) area in Queensland, Australia, were damaged during the 2013 Queensland flood event leading to operational failures in rural road networks. Floodway damage leads to isolating regional communities and hindering the supply of agricultural products to other regions. In a post-disaster period, the long-term impacts on the community and the economy of the country depend on the speed of reestablishing the fully operational level of those floodways.