Adaptive Transportation Projects and Design Guidelines
These resources provide examples of physical adaptation projects in the transportation sector as well as other examples related to project design, such as design guidelines that incorporate climate change projections. Many of the examples in this list are provided by case studies developed through a cooperative agreement with the Federal Highway Administration. Apply additional filters to narrow the list by region, state, climate impacts, jurisdictional focus, or transportation lifecycle stage.
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Several Cape Cod towns and the Cape Cod Commission have taken specific measures to adapt beach parking lots to the impacts of climate change, including extreme storms and sea-level rise that are causing increased beach erosion. These coastal communities are rethinking “quick fix” repairs to vulnerable parking infrastructure and are instead implementing a variety of soft and hard measures as more permanent solutions to long-term climate change impacts. Many of the town activities were captured in the adaptation blog “Great American Adaptation Road Trip” by Allie Goldstein and Kirsten Howard, graduates of the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment.
Resource Category: Solutions
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June 2013
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) considered sea-level rise as a factor in early design and environmental review for the Mukilteo Multimodal Terminal Project (“Project”). The Project will develop a new terminal for the Mukilteo/Clinton Ferry, which provides transportation between Whidbey Island and the Seattle metropolitan area. In the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Project, WSDOT acknowledged that changing climate would impact the function and operations of Multimodal Project over the 50 to 100 year lifespan of the facility.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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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.
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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2013
The City of Paso Robles, California redesigned a downtown street utilizing complete and green street design principles to better manage precipitation and stormwater runoff in a natural drainage area. The 21st Street redesign project has proven successful as a means of stormwater management. In a three-month period, the street’s new features, which include pervious pavement, street trees, and a stream channel in the middle of the street, helped mitigate flooding from nine significant rain events, and recharged approximately 250,000 gallons of stormwater into the region’s groundwater basin.
Resource Category: Solutions
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2013
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) tested a National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) cost-benefit model by evaluating adaptation options for replacing Mud Bay Bridge on SR101 in Olympia. The bridge serves the community as a major corridor through Olympia and provides access to Interstate-5, the main north-south freeway in Puget Sound. Depending on the rate of sea-level rise in the region under various climate change scenarios, it is anticipated that Mud Bay Bridge will become inundated before 2100.
Resource Category: Solutions
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In the wake of Hurricane Sandy and the substantial damage done to the infrastructure managed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), PANYNJ has been repairing and rebuilding infrastructure components to make its PATH transit system more resilient to future Sandy-like storm events. The PATH system, the heavy rail (6 to 12-car trains) rapid transit system linking Manhattan to New Jersey cities and suburban communities, experienced the most severe flooding of any PANYNJ facilities during Hurricane Sandy.
Resource Category: Solutions
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The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) has implemented projects to elevate electrical substations relied upon by critical transit systems – the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) and LaGuardia Airport in New York City – in order to better protect them from flooding during storm events. PANYNJ is in the process of elevating two Substations for the PATH system that were damaged during Sandy and elevating and replacing an outdated substation at LaGuardia Airport.
Resource Category: Solutions
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2013
The Boston Transportation Department and other Boston city agencies have developed Complete Streets guidelines that incorporate green infrastructure components such as permeable pavements and street trees to address impacts of climate change including increased heat and precipitation. “Complete streets” are designed to create more sustainable transportation networks by encouraging multi-modal travel options and enhancing the natural environment within the public right-of-way. By promoting the use of green infrastructure, the City can help reduce the urban heat island effect and mitigate flooding.
Resource Category: Solutions
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