More intense and more frequent extreme precipitation events are projected in a warming climate. With this risk comes possible detrimental outcomes based on what has happened in the past. Water rises over bridges. Homes, businesses, and roads on steep hills fall away in a landslide. Tornadoes rip through towns. Planes are grounded. Coastal areas are underwater.
The U.S. Gulf Region is dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Laura and California is beginning to get a handle on wildfires that have been raging for weeks. This fall TRB is offering webinars to help strengthen the transportation industry’s resilience to these events. On October 6, TRB hosts
A Resilient Path Forward for the Marine Transportation System and on October 7,
Weathering the Storm - Climate Resilience at Airports.
State departments of transportation (DOTs) are also taking changing climate and extreme weather into account when making infrastructure decisions, but they are not always using a formal set of tools for cost-benefit analysis to address climate resilience. A
TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) guidebook was developed to fill the gaps in the routine use of cost-benefit analysis and other decisions-making tools in light of extreme weather.
Extremes are not rare
It’s become common to hear that “one-in-a-hundred-year events” are occurring in five-, 10-, and 15-year periods. Scientists
identify these extreme weather events based on the historical record of weather in a particular region. A “return time” is a commonly used metric of probability; for example, a
100-year return time means that in any given year, there is a 1-in-100 chance of the threshold being reached.
Eight cases of diverse weather events in the U.S. from 2007-2012 highlighted the broad and evolving nature of keeping up with transportation infrastructure. NCHRP’s
Response to Extreme Weather Impacts on Transportation Systems offers in-depth lessons learned and effective practices for addressing this specific challenge.
Research leadership from TRB
In April 2020, TRB offered webinars on
environmentally sustainable funding and financing at the intersection of federal surface transportation authorization and realignment of state transportation spending. Going further in preventative measures, an April 30 webinar explored the
role of ecology in sustainable transportation.
TRB has provided practitioners with research findings of potential impacts of climate change and extreme weather on the U.S. Highway system for years. The
2014 Strategic Issues Facing Transportation research showed the need for a solid foundation to plan for the impacts of climate change through 2050. The increasing demands for highway reconstruction and rehabilitation happening now provide an opportunity to incorporate climate adaptation strategies.
Speakers at a 2018 TRB conference on
freight analytics impacts on the Marine Transportation System addressed the role of sea level rise on the field. One presenter specifically spoke on using the expert elicitation of port authorities to assess the vulnerability and the adaptive capacity of ports to the rising threats of extreme weather and sea level rise.
Professionals in the aviation industry are also keeping a step ahead of preparations for extreme weather events and climate change. TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) provides
Climate Resilience and Benefit-Cost Analysis: A Handbook for Airports to assess the benefits, costs, and financial feasibility of infrastructure projects designed to improve resilience. Case studies of airports in Phoenix, Boston, New Orleans, and Little Rock explore how extreme weather events can affect small and large airports. In summary, evaluating climate resilience at airports may be wisely considered part of the overall risk management processes.
ACRP also offers
Integrating Sustainability Planning and the Environmental Review Process as a manual for planners who are integrating the environmental review and sustainability planning processes at airports. The fields of sustainability planning and environmental review share overlap, providing another opportunity for planning and infrastructure enhancement in transportation.
Extreme weather effects reach from the sky to deep underground, requiring preparations that are unique to each aspect of transportation. TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Project (TCRP) offers a series of reports on
Improving the Resilience of Transit Systems Threatened by Natural Disasters with practices for all sizes of transit systems to absorb the impacts of disaster, recover quickly, and return rapidly to providing the services that customers rely on to meet their travel needs. It notes
resilienttransit.org as a resource to identify tools to help plan for natural disasters.
Escalating preparations from basic to extreme
At TRB’s
Marine Board Spring Meeting, Suzanne Lemieux of the American Petroleum Institute mentioned the lessons learned from Harvey in terms of resilience, working from home, and managing systems for dealing with the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The 2020 hurricane season started unseasonably early, so the industry was already preparing for facing the dual threats of hurricanes and COVID-19 as early as May.
A summary of TRB's 2019
conference on resilience presents advancements made in transportation systems resilience to natural hazards, climate change, and impacts from extreme weather events. It includes an educational flood mitigation demonstration.
TRB continues to look to the future to better incorporate extreme event and climate change into transportation planning. An active NCHRP project aims to provide guidelines for response planning, assessment, and rapid restoration of service of
bridges in extreme events.
Further your career in transportation planning for extreme weather events or climate change by getting involved with TRB. You can become a friend of TRB’s
Standing Committee on Extreme Weather and Climate Change Adaptation. Friends of committees receive updates on and can volunteer to participate in committee activities.
Get involved in this work with the Cooperative Research Programs. Look for
ongoing information on new projects, requests for proposals, or to nominate yourself or others to serve on a project panel. Submit problem statement research ideas and find new announcements in
TRB’s weekly newsletter or on the homepages for
ACRP,
NCHRP, and
TCRP. Your expertise can be of service as extreme events require extreme preparation.
TRB reports cited in this article:
National Academies resources:
TRB projects cited in this article:
TRB events cited in this article:
TRB committees cited in this article:
External resources cited in this article:
Additional TRB resources:
Contact:
Beth Ewoldsen, Content Strategist
Transportation Research Board
202-334-2353;
bewoldsen@nas.edu
Updated August 31, 2020
This Summary Last Modified On: 1/27/2021