NTL Record

Title Estimating the Effects of Extreme Weather on Transportation Infrastructure
Record ID 61514
Personal Name
Creator
Camp, Janey; Abkowitz, Mark
Corporate Creator National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (U.S.)
Corporate
Contributor
United States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
Publisher National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (U.S.)
Publication Date 20161200
Language English
Abstract Climate change, already taking place, is expected to become more pronounced in the future. Current damage assessment models for extreme weather events, such as FEMA's Hazus, do not take the full impact to transportation systems into consideration. As a result, the consequences of climate change scenarios on freight transportation infrastructure and the system network, including disruption to commodity freight flow and access, are not well characterized. This research develops and pilots test a methodology that estimates the actual transportation infrastructure cost of a climate change-induced event, with an initial focus on flooding of highway infrastructure in the Nashville, TN, region for which impact data is readily available. Additionally, at a larger scale, geographic information systems can be utilized coupled with downscaled climate model projections to perform screening-level analysis of transportation infrastructure assets that may be most at risk. Performing a screening-level analysis can assist decision makers in knowing where to allocate resources for additional analysis using the approach developed for Nashville, TN. This is demonstrated using NARCCAP model output as the source for identifying “regional” or localized “hot spots” for evaluation using Hazus or other tools for the eastern portion of the United States. Ultimately, the two approaches presented can be used individually or combined to provide evaluation at multiple levels of decision support using publicly available tools to estimate the potential risk under future climate conditions to transportation assets.
Rosap ID dot:32252
Rosap URL https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/32252
TRT Terms Weather conditions; Floods; Transportation, hydraulic and utility facilities; Highway facilities; Climate change; Forecasting; Geographic information systems
General Subjects Floods; Research Hub; Infrastructure; Risk analysis; Transportation modes; Weather conditions; Extreme events; Research; Environment; Highways; Planning and Forecasting
Geographical
Coverage
United States
TRIS Online
Accession No
1635070
Contract Number T002688
Report Number CFIRE RI-05
Resource type Tech Report
URL https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/61000/61500/61514/CFIRE_RI05_FinalReport.pdf
Format PDF
Database NTL Digital Repository