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.
176 results are shown below.
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Resource
2011
The Iowa Climate Change Adaptation & Resilience Report identifies barriers to and incentives for incorporating climate change information into local hazard mitigation and comprehensive planning processes, in order to improve community resilience to climate impacts through coordinated planning, hazard assessment, and infrastructure investment decision-making. The report presents the findings of a pilot project between the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Iowa stakeholders, developed through a series of meetings and workshops.
Resource Category: Planning
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March 2010
The Pennsylvania Climate Adaptation Planning Report presents climate adaptation recommendations and strategies developed by stakeholder working groups from key sectors, including the infrastructure sector with a focus on transportation. The Infrastructure working group identified the key focus areas, vulnerabilities and risks to infrastructure assets; and prioritized actions (high, medium or low) based upon specific criteria including cost, timeliness of implementation, political support, data availability, planning, risk level, co-benefits, and risks to public health and safety.
Resource Category: Planning
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September 23, 2010
The French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), which includes Asheville, North Carolina and the surrounding area, included a climate change chapter in its 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), adopted in 2010. The chapter identifies the impacts that climate change has already caused in the mountains of Western North Carolina, and concludes that the primary future impact in the region will be climate variability. The chapter considers the risks expected to increase with greater temperature and precipitation variability, and identifies steps the MPO can take to adapt its infrastructure.
Resource Category: Planning
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September 13, 2010
This case study details efforts in Keene, New Hampshire to assess the vulnerability of transportation assets to future climate impacts and to recommend adaptive responses in city land-use and transportation plans. Keene’s 2007 Climate Adaptation Plan identified transportation infrastructure vulnerable to climate impacts and suggested strategies to improve its resiliency. In 2010, Keene incorporated recommendations from the Adaptation Plan into the city’s Comprehensive Master Plan, which provides the general template for future zoning and land-use regulations in the City, including decisions about the city road system.
Resource Category: Planning
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April 7, 2010
The California Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) Guidelines provides a uniform transportation planning framework for use by Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and Regional Transportation Planning Agencies (RTPAs). The Guidelines cover all aspects of regional transportation planning, with one section offering recommendations for considering climate change. The Guidelines recommend that as a best practice, MPOs and RTPAs should begin to incorporate climate change into their long-range transportation plans.
Resource Category: Planning
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December 2010
The Charlotte County – Punta Gorda Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (MPO) Long Range Transportation Plan contains a section on hazard mitigation designed to help the MPO identify specific roadways and properties within the region that are at risk of sea-level rise and storm surges, and identify strategies that can help protect the region from these climate-change-induced hazards. Chapter 13 profiles natural and man-made hazards that are common in the MPO area; presents estimates of the level of exposure and vulnerability of various components of the transportation system; describes a scenario-based planning exercise to integrate hazard mitigation into collaborative land-use and transportation planning; identifies various mitigation strategies to reduce the vulnerability of the transportation system; and suggests and incorporates a new set of goals and objectives into the LRTP.
Resource Category: Planning
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March 2010
The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) 2010 Climate Action Strategy, intended to guide regional and local policymakers in addressing climate change and preparing for its effects, includes among its goals to “protect transportation infrastructure from climate change impacts. ” The Strategy identifies the climate change impacts most likely to affect the San Diego area, including extreme heat, greater risk of mudslides after wildfires, and sea-level rise and storm surge, and lists policy measures that SANDAG and local governments can take to address them.
Resource Category: Planning
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2009
Greenworks Philadelphia is a comprehensive six-year plan (“Plan”) that sets goals for “greening” the City of Philadelphia – increasing the city’s energy efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving the environmental quality of the city, and adapting to the dangers posed by climate change. This case study focuses only on the transportation-related recommendations included in the Plan – increasing the percentage of city assets in a “state of good repair” and using green infrastructure strategies to improve stormwater management and reduce flood impacts to transportation infrastructure.
Resource Category: Planning
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April 2009
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) completed an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) In order to assess the impacts of proposed transportation investments in the San Francisco Bay Area. The EIR includes a qualitative assessment of potential climate change impacts on the region’s transportation system, with a focus on sea-level rise impacts. It also suggests measures to protect transportation assets from the impacts of climate change. The EIR, finalized in 2009, was part of the development of the MTC’s long-range transportation plan, “Transportation 2035 Plan: Change in Motion.
Resource Category: Planning
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November 2008
This Coastal Regional Sediment Management Plan identifies four strategies to reduce coastal erosion along southern Monterey Bay in California. One of these strategies involves beach nourishment to protect critical infrastructure, including sections of California Highway 1.
Resource Category: Planning
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