Transportation Sector Case Studies
These resources include case studies of adaptation in the transportation sector, developed by the Georgetown Climate Center as part of a cooperative agreement with the Federal Highway Administration. The case studies include examples of how adaptation has been incorporated into decisionmaking at all stages of the transportation lifecycle: assessing vulnerability, planning, design, and operations and maintenance.
Resources are automatically presented by rating, but can also be sorted by date and title. Apply additional filters to narrow the list by climate impact, region, transportation mode or stage of decision-making, state, or jurisdictional focus.
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December 2013
The long-range regional transportation plan for the Chattanooga-Hamilton County/North Georgia Transportation Planning Organization (CHCNGA TPO), entitled “2040 Regional Transportation Plan” (2040 RTP), includes a report on Climate Change and Transportation Resiliency for the region. The Plan identifies critical transportation assets in the CHCNGA TPO region, assesses the potential vulnerability and risk for each asset across a range of potential impacts, and outlines planning, design and operations adaptation actions that could be deployed to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
Related Organizations: Chattanooga-Hamilton County/North Georgia Transportation Planning Organization
Resource Category: Planning
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November 2013
The UK Government's proposed design for a new high speed railway between London and points north considered climate change-related risks, including flooding of tracks and overheating in tunnels. The risk assessment report discusses how those risks will be addressed in the proposed design for the project. The proposed project, High Speed Two (HS2), is designed to link eight of Britain’s ten largest cities and increase the capacity of the country’s rail infrastructure. The project is expected to cost 16 billion British pounds, with service to start in 2026.
Resource Category: Assessments
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2013
The Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (ADOT&PF) is rebuilding portions of roads in the northern regions of the state using a thick layer of insulation under the pavement in order to help prevent the thaw of underlying permafrost caused by heat transfer. Thawing permafrost, exacerbated by increasing average annual temperatures and heat transfer from paved roads, has caused structural instability to roadway infrastructure and buildings in Alaska. Portions of Goldstream Road near Fairbanks and the Dalton Highway further north are both being replaced with insulation board to ensure thermal stability of the roads with increasing temperatures under climate change scenarios.
Related Organizations: Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
Resource Category: Solutions
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The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) is upgrading and elevating the State Highway 16 (SH16) Causeway near Auckland to reduce roadway flooding during extreme tidal conditions under projected future sea-level rise. The SH16 Causeway Upgrade Project involves raising 4. 8 kilometers (3 miles) of both roadway and bike path along SH16, also known as the Northwestern Motorway, by 1. 5 meters (5 feet). For this project, NZTA utilized sea-level rise planning recommendations produced by the NZ Ministry for the Environment.
Resource Category: Solutions
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May 2013
Beginning in 2007, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) conducted a major research and development project to evaluate the impacts of climate change on Norwegian roads and recommend adaptation measures to be incorporated into road design, construction, operation, and maintenance and help ensure safety and accessibility of roads in a changing climate. The project, entitled “Climate and Transport,” has resulted in revised guidelines and specifications, to better plan and design for increasing risk related to flooding and sea-level rise.
Resource Category: Solutions
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September 22, 2011
The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (MPO) Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), “Paths to a Sustainable Region,” outlines policies, programs, and projects of regional significance or major infrastructure projects that have been identified as priorities for the region between now and 2035. The Boston LRTP adds climate change as an area of emphasis, and acknowledges the importance of adaptation measures to lessen or avoid potential impacts from climate change.
Related Organizations: Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO)
Resource Category: Planning
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December 2010
The “2060 Florida Transportation Plan” provides transportation planning guidance for the state, and includes emergency preparedness and resilience planning in its long-range objectives. The Plan, developed by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), sets high-level transportation objectives for the state, and offers implementation strategies to meet those objectives.
Related Organizations: Florida Department of Transportation
Resource Category: Planning
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December 2009
Chapter X of the 2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy (CAS) summarizes projected climate change impacts to transportation and energy infrastructure in the state, and recommends adaptation strategies to address those impacts. California’s extensive infrastructure system will likely be subject to climate change-related impacts from higher temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, sea-level rise, and extreme weather events. To adapt to these impacts, the CAS recommends four adaptation strategies for transportation infrastructure: develop a climate vulnerability assessment; incorporate climate change into existing investment decisions; develop design standards to minimize risks; and incorporate climate change considerations into disaster preparedness planning.
Related Organizations: California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), California Natural Resources Agency
Resource Category: Planning
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May 2015
European nations collaborated on two research projects beginning in 2009 to develop a detailed climate change risk assessment methodology and tools for adapting transportation systems and infrastructure. The first project, entitled “RIMAROCC” (Risk Management for Roads in a Changing Climate), produced a risk assessment framework to support decision-making regarding roads in light of climate change impacts. The more recent “ROADAPT” (Roads for Today, Adapted for Tomorrow) project developed guidelines and tools to be used with the RIMAROCC risk assessment framework, to better inform detailed vulnerability and socioeconomic impact assessments, and selection of adaptation strategies.
Resource Category: Assessments
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June 2014
New York City has been awarded $335 million to build a flood protection system around lower Manhattan and protect the critical ground transportation artery FDR Drive, as envisioned in the Big U project proposal developed for Rebuild by Design. The Big U proposal was one of six winners of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Rebuild by Design Competition and was developed by the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). The BIG U project proposes to build deployable walls that swing down from the underside of FDR Drive, which runs along the East River on the eastern side of Manhattan and has been an inlet for flood waters into Manhattan during extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy.
Related Organizations: New York City Mayor's Office of Recovery and Resiliency , U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, City of New York, New York
Resource Category: Planning
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