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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Resource
February 2013
The District of Columbia Department of Transportation’s (DDOT) Climate Change Adaptation Plan describes the impacts that the District is likely to experience due to climate change, outlines a framework for identifying priority assets, and sets forth a series of action items for implementing the Plan. The target audience for this framework plan is decision makers, engineers, designers, planners, and other transportation professionals in DDOT. The plan focuses only on transportation and was developed based on the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) research and guidance.
Related Organizations: District of Columbia Department of Transportation
Resource Category: Planning
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December 2013
The University of Southern California Sea Grant Program completed a Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Study for the City of Los Angeles that summarizes initial research on the potential impacts of sea-level rise on Los Angeles’s coastal and shoreline assets, including the Port of Los Angeles, the Pacific Coast Highway and other significant coastal roads. The study identifies the Los Angeles (LA) communities and infrastructure most threatened, and offers a suite of adaptation measures including several specific recommendations for safeguarding transportation assets.
Related Organizations: University of Southern California Sea Grant
Resource Category: Assessments
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December 2013
Vermont experienced significant barriers to using disaster relief funding to install larger culverts after Tropical Storm Irene. The storm caused massive damage to the state’s transportation infrastructure and warranted a presidential disaster declaration. In the aftermath of the event, the Vermont Transportation agency (VTrans) and localities followed state regulations that required the installation of larger culverts to address increased stream flow and to allow for fish passage. Localities, however, were denied reimbursement for these “improvements” by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the agency that administers disaster relief funding for rebuilding local roads and bridges.
Related Organizations: Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans), Georgetown Climate Center
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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June 2014
The proposed Commercial Corridor Resiliency Project included an element designed to improve the resiliency of a Queens, New York subway station by elevating the platform at Far Rockaway. The project proposal was developed and was selected as a finalist as part of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Rebuild by Design Competition by the design team HR&A/Cooper Robertson. This proposal shows how the impacts of climate change like flooding can be addressed through elevating critical infrastructure while expanding access to commercial hubs.
Related Organizations: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), City of New York, New York
Resource Category: Planning
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June 2014
The New Meadowlands project was proposed as part of the post-Sandy Rebuild by Design competition and involves the integration of flood protection structures with transportation assets. The proposal includes two components: (1) “Meadowpark,”a series of green berms integrated with a large natural reserve of tidal wetlands and freshwater basins designed to provide flood protection; and (2) the “Meadowband,” a berm covered by a street designed to integrate a Bus Rapid Transit line and provide multi-modal transportation options to the region.
Related Organizations: State of New Jersey, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Resource Category: Solutions
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June 2014
The Hoboken Rebuild by Design project proposal uses a combination of urban water management strategies to protect Hoboken, New Jersey, including the region’s transportation hubs, from flash floods and storm surge. Hoboken is a low-elevation, high-density urban environment on the west bank of the Hudson River that was severely flooded in 2012 when Hurricane Sandy hit the eastern coast of the U. S. The project uses a combination of flood defenses, green infrastructure (such as green roofs, constructed wetlands, rain gardens), and stormwater pumps to increase the city’s resilience to flooding.
Related Organizations: State of New Jersey, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Resource Category: Solutions
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January 2014
New York has announced a program to upgrade 105 critical bridges across the state by repairing existing scour damage and increasing resilience to future damage from floods and extreme weather events. The Bridge Scour Program will ensure that the essential transportation infrastructure remains safe and provides access for emergency responders during the severe weather events that have become more common in New York and may further increase in frequency and severity under future climate conditions.
Related Organizations: New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) , State of New York
Resource Category: Funding
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September 22, 2014
Starting in March 2015, public infrastructure projects in New York, including those that are constructed, funded, or approved by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), must be evaluated on their resiliency to sea-level rise and future extreme weather events. The New York state Community Risk and Resiliency Act (CRRA) requires state agencies to consider climate change impacts in funding and permitting decisions. The CRRA specifically applies to new, expanded, or reconstructed infrastructure projects reviewed by NYSDOT under the state’s Smart Growth Public Infrastructure Policy Act (SGPIPA).
Related Organizations: New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) , New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), State of New York
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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May 2014
New York State’s Transportation Asset Management Plan (TAMP) outlines an investment strategy, framework and process to preserve and manage the multimodal transportation assets in New York State, and identifies climate change as a key risk to the state's highway and bridge assets and New York State Department of Transportation’s (NYSDOT's) ability to manage those assets effectively. At a high level, the TAMP also identifies climate-related impacts to the transportation system, and outlines strategies the state can take to mitigate the risk.
Related Organizations: New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT)
Resource Category: Planning
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January 7, 2014
In January 2014 during the State of the State address, New York’s Governor Cuomo announced a plan to invest $17 billion to rebuild New York’s infrastructure, including transportation systems, more resiliently in light of increasingly frequent extreme weather events. The comprehensive rebuilding program includes major reconstruction of the transit system, renovations to many old bridges, a new extensive weather detection system, and creation of a fuel reserve and backup power for gas stations along critical routes.
Related Organizations: State of New York
Resource Category: Funding
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