Transportation Sector Assessments and Tools
This tab provides climate science, vulnerability assessments, and tools for understanding climate change impacts to the water sector and potential adaptation options. Apply additional filters to narrow the list by resource type, region, and impact.
83 results are shown below.
Resource
August 2011
This report from the Federal Transit Administration compiles climate change adaptation analyses and information for use in adapting U.S. public transportation assets and services to climate change impacts. The report is targeted at transit professionals and aims to prompt the consideration of climate resiliency in the transit industry by providing sector-specific adaptation information.
Author or Affiliated User: Tina Hodges
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resource
August 2011
The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) Transportation Vulnerability Assessment was developed as part of a broader climate change adaptation initiative. This preliminary vulnerability assessment for the transportation sector identifies the possible climate impacts to the transportation sector, including roads and bridges, rail, facilities and buildings, bicycle and pedestrian buildings, and airports.
Resource Category: Assessments
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Resource
July 2011
This assessment was prepared by the staff of the Wilmington Area Planning Council (WILMAPCO), the Metropolitan Planning Organization for New Castle County, Delaware and Cecil County, Maryland, to identify the vulnerabilities of the area’s transportation infrastructure to climate change. The body of the report is broken into five chapters: background, methodology, regional impacts, cluster (neighborhood level) profiles, and policy recommendations.
Resource Category: Assessments
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Resource
April 13, 2011
This vulnerability assessment was conducted by the Saco Bay Sea Level Adaptation Working Group (SLAWG), and assessed the vulnerability of Saco Bay communities to sea-level rise (SLR), flooding and erosion. The assessment looked at vulnerabilities for the towns of Saco, Scarborough, Old Orchard Beach, and Biddeford. This Saco Bay region contains the largest contiguous stretch of beaches and coastal wetlands in the state and has experienced some of the state’s most severe erosion problems. Although the focus on the study was on the vulnerability of the communities as a whole, part of the assessment identified roads in the region that will be vulnerable to inundation under different SLR scenarios.
Resource Category: Assessments
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Resource
April 2011
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) conducted a vulnerability and risk assessment of the agency’s critical infrastructure to the anticipated effects of climate change, including sea-level rise and increased storm surge, precipitation, and temperatures. PANYNJ analyzed climate-related vulnerability and level of risk for a wide variety of agency infrastructure, including airports, marine terminals, tunnels and bridges, rails, bus stations, and other facilities. The risk analysis was used to prioritize the highest risk assets and develop adaptation strategies for those assets.
Resource Category: Assessments
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Resource
2011
Researchers at Portland State University (PSU) and the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium developed a framework for assessing climate change vulnerabilities to multi-modal transportation systems using a geographic information system (GIS). They used Portland as a case study for testing the GIS model and provided recommendations for how the GIS could be used to develop adaptive responses in the transportation sector. In the study, the researchers focused on two climate impacts that could affect surface transportation networks in Portland – flooding and landslides - and used GIS to model hazard locations in Portland.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Lindsay Walker, Miguel A. Figliozzi, Ashley R. Haire, John MacArthur
Resource Category: Data and tools
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Resource
2011
The Alaska University Transportation Center (AUTC) of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, has supported multiple projects to research measures to reduce permafrost thaw and the resulting impacts to roads, specifically along the Alaska Highway (the only road connecting Alaska to the continental U. S. ). Structural damage occurs when the permafrost under road infrastructure thaws. Thermal modeling demonstrates that the stability of permafrost below roadways and embankments is greatly affected by surface temperatures of roadways, and it has therefore been predicted that as the climate warms, permafrost degradation will be a major issue for the design and maintenance of roads in Alaska.
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resource
January 2011
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) memorandum “The Use of Climate Information in Vulnerability Assessments” provides guidance on how to access and use historical climate change information and projections of future climate conditions when performing vulnerability assessments for transportation systems. This memorandum describes several sources of climate information and technical assistance, and provides recommendations on how transportation planners can use this information as they consider their climate-related risks.
Resource Category: Assessments
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Resource
July 2010
This study addresses whether or not current flood frequency estimates for south-central Alaska adequately characterize true flood occurrences given limited observational data, the influence of natural climate variability on extreme events, and potential climate change. The research is intended to lead to the understanding of regional hydrology while resulting in the least total cost for this aspect of transportation infrastructure in Alaska.
Resource Category: Assessments
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Resource
May 10, 2010
Developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), this report is intended to provide the transportation community (including highway engineers, planners, NEPA practitioners) with transparent, regional information on projected climate changes and effects that are most relevant to the U. S. highway system. This information is designed to inform assessments of the risks and vulnerabilities facing the current U. S. transportation system, and support planning and project development activities.
Resource Category: Planning
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