Adapting Transport To Climate Change And Extreme Weather

This report addresses the fundamental challenges that climate change poses to infrastructure owners, who face two major challenges. First, they must ensure continued asset performance under sometimes significantly modified climate conditions that may decrease the present value of their networks ...

Climate Change Adaptation for Transportation Systems examines the international state of knowledge on climate change and weather and their potential impacts on the planning, design and serviceability of transportation networks. The book describes alternative frameworks for adapting to climate change in the planning, provision and management of transportation systems. It discusses methods and models for including climate and weather factors in planning and design for use in transportation asset systems under risk and uncertainty. Giving specific attention to road, rail, ports and harbors, the book provides users with the tools they need in decision-making approaches where there is uncertainty. Examines the impact of climate change and extreme weather on the performance and serviceability of transportation assets Explores the issues, methods, frameworks, models and techniques for assessing transportation systems' performance, including considerations for climate and the environment Provides case studies from around the world to illustrate methods, covering a wide range of climatic conditions, considerations and approaches for transportation planners

Climate Change Adaptation for Transportation Systems examines the international state of knowledge on climate change and weather and their potential impacts on the planning, design and serviceability of transportation networks. The book describes alternative frameworks for adapting to climate change in the planning, provision and management of transportation systems. It discusses methods and models for including climate and weather factors in planning and design for use in transportation asset systems under risk and uncertainty. Giving specific attention to road, rail, ports and harbors, the book provides users with the tools they need in decision-making approaches where there is uncertainty. Examines the impact of climate change and extreme weather on the performance and serviceability of transportation assets Explores the issues, methods, frameworks, models and techniques for assessing transportation systems' performance, including considerations for climate and the environment Provides case studies from around the world to illustrate methods, covering a wide range of climatic conditions, considerations and approaches for transportation planners

This report presents the analyses of several climate variables relevant to transport networks and nodes within the ECE region. Regional maps have been produced in Geographical Information System (GIS) format, showing the main transportation networks, which have been overlain by the spatial distribution of the climate change projections, thereby presenting an initial perspective of areas of potential risk which could warrant more in-depth assessment. The Group of Experts has also reviewed and presented country experiences in the form of case studies, demonstrating a range of efforts that have been undertaken to analyse climate change impacts on transport assets and operations. With its work, the Group of Experts wishes to raise awareness on the importance of considering climate change and extreme weather (for example, in planning, construction, maintenance and operations) and of strengthening the climate resilience of inland transport assets, networks and nodes. It also aims to stimulate the continuation of work to establish the necessary analytical basis to facilitate local or regional assessments, leading to the identification of specific transport assets at risk which may require adaptation efforts. The Group of Experts, within this report, also formulated a series of lessons learned which have served as a basis to recommend future action at national and international levels towards improved transportation system climate resilience.

Extreme weather events and a changing climate increasingly boost costs to transportation agencies and to the traveling public. While Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are taking into account changing climate and extreme weather when making infrastructure decisions, they typically are not using a formal set of tools or cost-benefit analyses (CBAs) to address climate resilience because they may be too time-consuming and expensive to conduct routinely. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Research Report 938: Incorporating the Costs and Benefits of Adaptation Measures in Preparation for Extreme Weather Events and Climate Change--Guidebook was developed to try to fill the gaps identified by DOTs. It is intended to provide a consolidated resource for transportation practitioners to be able to more readily consider CBAs as a tool in their investment-decision making processes when considering different climate and extreme weather adaptation alternatives. This report has additional resources, including a web-only document NCHRP Web-Only Document 271: Guidelines to Incorporate the Costs andBenefits of Adaptation Measures in Preparation for Extreme Weather Events and Climate Change, a Power Point presentation that describes the research and the results, a spreadsheet tool that provides an approximate test to see if it would be cost-effective to upgrade assets to the future conditions posed by climate change, and a spreadsheet tool that uses existing conditions without climate change only to calculate the new return period for future conditions with climate change.

Extreme weather events and a changing climate increasingly boost costs to transportation agencies and to the traveling public. While Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are taking into account changing climate and extreme weather when making infrastructure decisions, they typically are not using a formal set of tools or cost-benefit analyses (CBAs) to address climate resilience because they may be too time-consuming and expensive to conduct routinely. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Research Report 938: Incorporating the Costs and Benefits of Adaptation Measures in Preparation for Extreme Weather Events and Climate Change—Guidebook was developed to try to fill the gaps identified by DOTs. It is intended to provide a consolidated resource for transportation practitioners to be able to more readily consider CBAs as a tool in their investment-decision making processes when considering different climate and extreme weather adaptation alternatives. This report has additional resources, including a web-only document NCHRP Web-Only Document 271: Guidelines to Incorporate the Costs andBenefits of Adaptation Measures in Preparation for Extreme Weather Events and Climate Change, a Power Point presentation that describes the research and the results, a spreadsheet tool that provides an approximate test to see if it would be cost-effective to upgrade assets to the future conditions posed by climate change, and a spreadsheet tool that uses existing conditions without climate change only to calculate the new return period for future conditions with climate change.

While every mode of transportation in the U.S. will be affected as the climate changes, potentially the greatest impact on transportation systems will be flooding of roads, railways, transit systems, and airport runways in coastal areas because of rising sea levels and surges brought on by more intense storms, says a new report from the National Research Council. Though the impacts of climate change will vary by region, it is certain they will be widespread and costly in human and economic terms, and will require significant changes in the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of transportation systems. The U.S. transportation system was designed and built for local weather and climate conditions, predicated on historical temperature and precipitation data. The report finds that climate predictions used by transportation planners and engineers may no longer be reliable, however, in the face of new weather and climate extremes. Infrastructure pushed beyond the range for which it was designed can become stressed and fail, as seen with loss of the U.S. 90 Bridge in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.