Transportation Sector Law and Policy
This tab includes laws and policies for avoiding or reducing climate change impacts to the transportation sector, including best practices and legal and policy analysis. Apply additional filters to narrow by resource type, state, region, impact, or jurisdictional focus.
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April 2015
In 2014, the Massachusetts Port Authority (“Massport”) began the Massport Resiliency Program to protect Massport transportation facilities from flooding hazards caused by extreme storms and rising sea levels as a result of climate change. The program seeks to better prepare for the impacts of climate change by incorporating resilience principles into Massport’s business strategy and operations. As a part of this program, Massport created a Floodproofing Design Guide (“Guide”) that will help make the built environment resilient to sea-level rise and major flood events.
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January 22, 2015
The Engineering Department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) produced the Climate Resilience Design Guidelines (guidelines) to ensure that climate-related risks are factored into design and management of agency facilities and infrastructure. In particular, the guidelines focus on future sea-level rise projections and provide a methodology for incorporating projections into design criteria while allowing project teams flexibility to design cost-effective solutions. PANYNJ project architects and engineers are to use the guidelines to assess the vulnerability of projects to future impacts and to address those impacts when designing port authority infrastructure and buildings.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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2014
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) began using a variety of new materials and techniques to address drought conditions by reducing or eliminating water use on roadside landscaping following the onset of multi-year severe drought conditions in 2011. New roadside landscaping projects began utilizing recycled water, native grasses and plants that require little or no watering, innovative water collection techniques, and smart irrigation controls. Caltrans’ water conservation efforts are designed to help meet or exceed state water use reduction goals and address growing water scarcity.
Resource Category: Solutions
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September 22, 2014
This Guidance presents a framework for considering sea level rise within the capital planning process for the City and County of San Francisco (CCSF). Adopted by the Capital Planning Committee (CPC) September 2014, the Guidance provides direction to all departments on how to incorporate sea level rise into new construction, capital improvement, and maintenance projects.
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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).
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September 16, 2014
The City and County of San Francisco (CCSF) adopted Guidance on how city and county agencies must consider sea-level rise for new capital improvement projects, including transportation improvements. The Guidance was adopted by the Capital Planning Committee (CPC) in September 2014 and revised in December 2015; the CPC makes recommendations to the Mayor and Board of Supervisors on all capital expenditures and approves the City’s 10-year Capital Improvement Plan. The Guidance provides direction to all CCSF departments on how to consider sea-level rise in all new construction, capital improvement, and maintenance projects.
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May 1, 2014
In 2014, the District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT) released design requirement standards for Green Infrastructure (GI) design, construction and maintenance in the public right-of-way. The intent is to provide stormwater retention to meet the regulatory requirements, along with the infrastructure requirements within the public right-of-way. The standards were developed for Low Impact Development techniques including bio-retention, permeable pavement, and street tree space design.
Resource Category: Solutions
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December 2013
From the Georgetown Climate Center, this case study examines the challenges encountered by Vermont localities in trying to use federal disaster relief funds to rebuild their transportation system to be more resilient to future impacts in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Justin Clancy, Jessica Grannis
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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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.
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November 2013
The 2014 Dane County, Wisconsin executive budget proposal asked for nearly $1 million in funding for climate adaptation, including several transportation infrastructure improvements such as larger culverts for increased precipitation runoff. This is the first time that the Dane County Executive has included requests for climate adaptation funding in its budget. The County Board adopted the proposed budget in November 2013.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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