Climate Adaptation of Transport Infrastructure Worldwide

The design and management of transport infrastructure are highly dependent on environmental impacts and factors. Climate change is causing variations in weather patterns, making them more extreme. According to the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) circular report, this will affect the life-cycle performance and maintenance of infrastructure elements like culverts, earthworks, pavements, and other structures.

New studies on infrastructure adaptation in the transport sector strongly focus on risk. The report says that most of the transportation and infrastructure sector’s approach to climate change impact and adaptation is based on risk management, an approach also endorsed by the adaption community.

The sector is already familiar with and has used a risk-based approach in the past. The report cites the AASHTO Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Bridge Design Specifications, which “incorporates risk into the calculations of bridge design parameters,” and the “design storm” or the “100-year flood,” which uses risk-based parameters as an example.

The report also states that “many transportation agencies and organizations around the globe have leveraged their familiarity with risk-based practices to develop risk-management frameworks that address climate change adaptation planning”.

This TRB circular, Risk-based Adaptation Frameworks for Climate Change Planning in the Transportation Sector, A Synthesis of Practice, aims to “synthesize the current state of adaptation planning and evaluation in the transportation sector, with a focus on risk-based frameworks.”

The report identifies several risk-based climate adaptation frameworks from around the world in two categories.

The first group contains the adaptation frameworks that address the general infrastructure system, of which transportation is one component.

The circular mentions three adaptation frameworks from Australia: its climate change risk to its coasts, climate risks for its coastal buildings and infrastructure, and infrastructure and climate change risk assessment for Victoria. Climate adaptation frameworks from other countries, such as Canada, Scotland, and the United States, are also mentioned.

The second category contains risk-based adaptation frameworks addressing transportation infrastructure and management activities.

The circular cites two adaptation frameworks from the New Zealand Transport Agency, Climate Change Effects on the Land Transport Network Volumes 1 and 2, and one from Transit New Zealand adaptation, Climate Change Uncertainty and the State Highway Network: A Moving Target, as examples under this category.

The report concludes that although several limitations exist among the organisation and agencies’ frameworks, the report revealed that the transportation agency had developed a consistent approach to climate adaptation planning using widely accepted risk standards as a guide. 

The report says adaptation frameworks and strategies from these organisations will allow for information sharing among agencies. They will help support those who are new to adaptation planning while helping those agencies with mature frameworks refine their practices.

The circular and the information will be helpful for individual practitioners in state and local transportation agencies, researchers in academic institutions, and other members of the transportation research community.

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