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KITTITAS COUNTY <br />DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS <br />PUBLIC WORKS — BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS <br />STUDY SESSION STAFF REPORT <br />STUDY SESSION DATE: October 14, 2019 <br />TOPIC: Washington State Department of Transportation Airfield Resilience for <br />Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake <br />ACTION REQUESTED: No Action Required <br />LEAD STAFF: <br />Mark R. Cook <br />RECOMMENDATION: <br />No action by the Board of County Commissioners is recommended by staff. <br />BRIEFING SUMMARY: <br />• Staff recently participated in a phone conference with Washington State <br />Department of Transportation and US Department of Homeland Security staff <br />discussing emergency response to a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake <br />• WSDOT planning is working cooperatively with Homeland Security developing <br />an action plan following a significant earthquake in Western Washington <br />• Bowers Field has been identified for possible study inclusion <br />BACKGROUND: <br />The possible catastrophic impacts from a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake have <br />been the topic of discussion by emergency response personnel for several years. <br />WSDOT recently completed a resilience study on its road and bridge network and is now <br />embarking on a limited evaluation of its airport system. The Department of Homeland <br />Security is providing limited funding towards developing an earthquake response plan for <br />selected Washington State airports (background is provided as EXHIBIT 1). <br />DISCUSSION: <br />Bowers Field is not one of the primary airports slated for resilience planning inclusion, <br />although its strategic statewide location accounts for its listing on airports of interest. <br />Critical areas for airport assessment include: <br />• Airport infrastructure and facility vulnerability <br />• Airport lifeline infrastructure dependencies <br />• Airport operational considerations and coordination. <br />Outcomes of the resilience study would identify how critical airports are expected to <br />perform relative to post disaster logistics. Gaps and potential vulnerabilities will likely <br />be identified from study conclusions. <br />Page 1 of 3 <br />PUBLIC WORKS BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION STAFF REPORT <br />