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Six inches can be the difference between a passable road and one that’s underwater. These local gauges give us the precision we need to design and justify multi-million-dollar investments.
- Bryan Bauer, Director of Engineering
The Story
Beaufort County is using SECOORA’s Southeast Water Level Network and Hohonu sensors to improve their road design process.
SECOORA’s Southeast Water Level Network funded the installation of Hohonu water level gauges across Beaufort County, SC, giving the county its first modern, local tide record. Whereas engineers were previously forced to back-calculate from NOAA stations 30+ miles away - knowing there could be as much as six inches of difference in tide levels - they now have a local, surveyed tide record the county can use to update minimum road elevations, analyze high-tide percentiles, and prioritize a $2–3M/year dirt road program and multi-million-dollar causeway upgrades as part of its long-term resilience strategy.
The result: road and causeway standards grounded in local water levels, so multi-million-dollar investments are based on evidence
1986
The last year Beaufort has its own tidal gauge
$2M-$3M
Annual dirt-to-pave road program informed by local tide data
6 Inches
Potential tide difference between Beaufort and distant gauges that local sensors now resolve
Problem
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No modern local tide gauge – Beaufort’s previous tide station was decommissioned in 1986, leaving engineers to design roads using gauges 30+ miles away. They found that tide levels that could differ by as much as six inches.
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Road standards on outdated assumptions – Minimum roadway elevations were set in an older vertical datum, making it hard to know whether new and rebuilt roads are high enough for current tide conditions.
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Growing coastal and rainfall flooding – King tides, storm surge, and more frequent “rain bomb” events are increasing flood risk for roads, dirt-to-pave projects, causeways, and access to boat landings and fishing piers.
Stakeholders
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Beaufort County Engineering, Planning, and Resilience Teams – Use local water level data to update road elevation standards, refine the public road vulnerability assessment, and prioritize a $2–3M/year dirt road program and multi-million-dollar causeway projects as part of the county’s long-term resilience strategy.
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SECOORA and Regional Science/Nonprofit Partners – Fund and coordinate the Southeast Water Level Network, ensure consistent methods and datums across the region, and use Beaufort County as a demonstrable example of how low-cost sensors support infrastructure and resilience decisions that funders care about.
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Emergency Management and the Public – Rely on real-time and historical water level data to understand when roads may become impassable during coastal and heavy rainfall events, improving communications and expectations for residents and partner agencies.
Outcomes
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First modern local tide record – SECOORA-funded Hohonu gauges give Beaufort County a surveyed, NAVD-tied water level record at creeks, landings, and piers for the first time since 1986.
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Data-driven design standards and priorities – Engineers can analyze high-tide percentiles and local flood behavior to reset minimum road elevations and refine which vulnerable segments to raise or harden first.
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Evidence for multi-million-dollar investments – Local, defensible data improves the county’s ability to justify road and causeway projects to decision-makers and funders—and provides SECOORA with a concrete example of why sensor networks matter.
Solution
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SECOORA’s Southeast Water Level Network – A network of Hohonu water level gauges installed across Beaufort County creates a consistent, long-term record of local tides and water levels.
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Accessible, analyzable data – Hohonu’s dashboard, CSV/API access, and surveyed datums make it easy for engineering, planning, and partners to pull data into studies, standards updates, and resilience plans.
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A platform for future tools and collaboration – Beaufort County and regional partners can help shape new capabilities, such as king tide calendars and hyperlocal forecasts, using the same sensor network - turning today’s monitoring into tomorrow’s planning tools.