Abstract
Extreme weather and climate change can have a significant impact on all types of infrastructure and assets, regardless of location, with the potential for human casualties, physical damage to assets, disruption of operations, economic and community distress, and environmental degradation. This paper describes a methodology for using extreme weather and climate data to identify climate-related risks and to quantify the potential impact of extreme weather events on certain types of transportation infrastructure as part of a vulnerability screening assessment. This screening assessment can be especially useful when a large number of assets or large geographical areas are being studied, with the results enabling planners and asset managers to undertake a more detailed assessment of vulnerability on a more targeted number of assets or locations. The methodology combines climate, weather, and impact data to identify vulnerabilities to a range of weather and climate related risks over a multi-decadal planning period. The paper applies the methodology to perform an extreme weather and climate change vulnerability screening assessment on transportation infrastructure assets for the State of Tennessee. This paper represents the results of one of the first efforts at spatial vulnerability assessments of transportation infrastructure and provides important insights for any organization considering the impact of climate and weather events on transportation or other critical infrastructure systems.
Highlights
Growing attention is being devoted to improving our understanding of the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to extreme weather events and climate change (Pollard, 2015 [1]; Schulz, 2007 [2]).In the case of transportation, extreme weather can physically damage infrastructure and disrupt travel mobility, resulting in public health, economic, social and ecological impacts whose consequences can seriously threaten the viability of individual communities or entire regions (Savonis et al, 2008 [3]; Transportation Research Board (TRB), 2008 [4]))
The approach described in this paper provides planners and infrastructure managers with a method by which to better understand what types of extreme weather events an area may experience in the future, trends associated with these events, and what climatic changes are projected with respect to precipitation and temperature
The downscaled CMIP3 climate projections compiled by the University of Georgia researchers are only available for counties in the southeastern United States, some agencies may not want county level data and there are other available approaches to obtaining downscaled climate data
Summary
Growing attention is being devoted to improving our understanding of the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to extreme weather events and climate change (Pollard, 2015 [1]; Schulz, 2007 [2]).In the case of transportation, extreme weather can physically damage infrastructure and disrupt travel mobility, resulting in public health, economic, social and ecological impacts whose consequences can seriously threaten the viability of individual communities or entire regions (Savonis et al, 2008 [3]; TRB, 2008 [4])). Because a functional infrastructure system involves an integrated and substantial network of different components across a widespread area, many organizations are taking a regional perspective when assessing extreme weather and climate vulnerability. Regional approaches face significant challenges, because most regions are characterized by a varying topography that leads to diverse climate conditions, various forms of extreme weather, and differing stressors and impacts on infrastructure. Given this nascent field and the challenges in assessing impacts from climate change in localized areas, in 2014, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) issued a practitioner’s guide and report aimed at assisting state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) incorporate climate change and extreme weather adaptation measures to the highway system in planning efforts, which included a multi-step framework for undertaking an adaptation assessment (TRB NCHRP, 2014 [5]). Obtaining climate data and assessing vulnerabilities were two steps in this framework, but the report noted that as recently as
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