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Page 16
Suggested Citation:"Breakout Group C." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Transportation Resilience: Adaptation to Climate Change. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24648.
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Page 16

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16 t r a n s p o r t a t i o n r e s i l i e n c e suggested that an improved process would assist with developing costeffective resilience measures. • Participants discussed the challenges of deal- ing with the uncertainties associated with both climate change and the transport system. It was noted that the rapid evolution of the transport system, including the emergence of electric, connected, automated, and auton- omous vehicles, coupled with the uncertainties associated with extreme weather events, increased the challenge for transport agencies. Research • Participants discussed a possible research topic measuring the wider socioeconomic impacts of climate change adaptation. Examining social justice and equity issues would be part of the study on this topic, as par- ticipants noted that lower-income groups often live in vulnerable locations. • One possible research project that participants considered focused on assessing the cost-effectiveness of different adaptation measures. Participants suggested that incorporating social factors into the calculations, exploring the relativity of transport-related initiatives versus other expenditures, and identifying the cobenefits of adaptation measures would be beneficial. • Research exploring some of the positive impacts of adapting to climate change, such as lower spending on snow plowing, would likely be beneficial. • Participants discussed both the direct and indirect impacts of new technology on resilience programs. Exam- ples of direct impacts identified included new materials and equipment. Examples of indirect impacts included changes in lifestyles, including more teleworking. • The changing nature of the critical interdependen- cies between transport and related infrastructure, such as the power grid, was considered. Additional research examining these changing interdependencies and how agencies should respond was suggested. • Other participants suggested that new paradigms and methodologies could redefine readiness for climate change. It was noted that old assumptions may need to be amended. Research exploring this new paradigm and methods to measure readiness was suggested as poten- tially beneficial. • Participants discussed possible research examining the interaction between mitigation and adaptation strate- gies. Examining if mitigation and adaptation strategies were in conflict or were mutually reinforcing and assess- ing how to minimize the carbon footprint of adaptation efforts could be beneficial if included in research projects. • Participants discussed organizational learning and possible research related to organizations’ and institu- tions’ ability to assimilate climate change data. It was suggested that building on the organizational learning research field and applying research results from that field to transport and climate change would be beneficial. • Participants suggested that research examining the level of redundancy required to address transport system needs resulting from different types and intensity levels of extreme weather events was needed. • The distinction between genuine unknowns and questions for which data might be available but not easily accessible or actionable is an important consid- eration. It was suggested that research exploring these topics in more detail would be valuable, as well as some recognized methods that may be beneficial to access and analyze critical hard-to-obtain data. breaKout grouP C Jennifer Jacobs Challenges • One challenge discussed by participants was the need to link the climate science community and the trans- portation community. Although sharing data is impor- tant, developing a robust ongoing dialogue between the groups is even more important. Ensuring that the climate science community understands the transport sector and its information needs at different levels, localities, scales, and sectors was noted as important. • Participants discussed the challenges associated with coordinating materials, assets, and systems at the local level and at the regional and multisector levels. • Another challenge considered by participants was improving the cost estimation component of benefit–cost analysis methods. Using assessment life-cycle costing techniques was suggested as one possible improvement. Identifying the costs of disruptions was also noted as a challenge, including who ultimately pays for the cost of disruptions. • Some possible policy challenges will likely include communicating with decision makers, the public, busi- ness interests, and other groups. It was noted that gain- ing the interest and support of politicians in office for only a short time for long-term projects is challenging. • Other challenges voiced by participants focused on developing improved forecasting technologies and more dynamic engineering responses. • One participant suggested that developing and maintaining strong regional, multisector, public– private partnerships would help address some of these challenges. Further, these regional partnerships would be able to respond to cascading failures as they occur. The possibility of linking funding from some recovery programs to resilience projects was considered, as was

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Transportation Resilience: Adaptation to Climate Change Get This Book
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Transportation Resilience: Adaptation to Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events summarizes a symposium held June 16–17, 2016 in Brussels, Belgium. The fourth annual symposium promotes common understanding, efficiencies, and trans-Atlantic cooperation within the international transportation research community while accelerating transport-sector innovation in the European Union (EU) and the United States.

The two-day, invitation-only symposium brought together high-level experts to share their views on disruptions to the transportation system resulting from climate change and extreme weather events. With the goal of fostering trans-Atlantic collaboration in research and deployment, symposium participants discussed the technical, financial, and policy challenges to better plan, design, and operate the transportation network before, during, and after extreme and/or long-term climate events.

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