Environment

In Florida Keys, Not Every Road or Home Can Be Saved From Sea Level Rise, Officials Warn

At a Glance

The cost to raise a 3-mile stretch of highway on Sugarloaf Key could rise to $181 million.
County officials acknowledge it'll cost too much to save every home.
The county is already anticipating lawsuits from angry homeowners.

One solution for sea level rise in some parts of the Florida Keys may be to let the water claim them.

Astronomical charges to keep the roads dry may not be worth it, officials with Monroe County, which includes the Keys, have said.

At the Southeast Florida Climate Leadership Summit this week, Monroe's Chief Resilience Officer Rhonda Haag presented results of the county’s study to figure out how much it would cost to elevate its 300 miles of roads above projected sea levels.

The cost of raising less than 3 miles of Old State Road 4A on Sugarloaf Key to withstand sea rise and seasonal exceptional high tides by 2025 could cost $75 million, Haag said, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The cost jumps to $128 million when accounting for the rise by 2045 and to $181 million by 2060.

Letting the roads sink would cut off access to homes and neighborhoods.

“I can’t see staff recommending to raise this road,” Haag told the New York Times in an interview. “Those are taxpayer dollars, and as much as we love the Keys, there’s going to be a time when it’s going to be less population.”

Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi said at the summit on Wednesday that officials, property owners and businesses will have to make hard decisions about how to confront the rising water, The Associated Press reported.

“We can't just raise the whole Keys. There are some places it doesn't make sense,” Gastesi said. “We're going to have to retreat from some areas. And that's going to be costly.”

The mayor of Monroe County, Heather Carruthers, told the Tampa Bay Times options could include water taxis that carry residents to their homes on stilts.

Officials also say it may make more sense to buy the inaccessible homes.

“How do you tell somebody, ‘We’re not going to build the road to get to your home’? And what do we do?” Gastesi said at the conference. “Do we buy them out? And how do we buy them out — is it voluntary? Is it eminent domain? How do we do that?”

Carruthers told the New York Times she expects pushback.

“I’m sure that some of them will be very irate, and we’ll probably face some lawsuits,” she said. “But we can’t completely keep the water away.”