A Transportation Research Program for Mitigating and Adapting to Climate Change and Conserving Energy Special Report 299 (2009) / Chapter Skim
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4 Adaptation Research and Development
4 Adaptation Research and Development
Pages 67-78
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From page 67... ...
The report prepared by a National Research Council Committee, Special Report 290: Potential Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Transportation (TRB 2008)
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From page 68... ...
The committee that prepared the report emphasized that, contrary to the general perception that climate change will result in gradual changes in temperature and sea level rise in coming decades, the key concerns for transportation are temporary, abrupt, and unanticipated extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storm intensity that could occur at any time and that will become more frequent. The committee that prepared Special Report 290 concluded that the greatest climate change impact on North American infrastructure will likely be flooding of coastal roads, railways, transit systems, and runways because of global rising sea levels coupled with storm surges, exacerbated in some locations by land subsidence.
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From page 69... ...
The committee also laid out a decision framework for transportation professionals to use in addressing impacts of climate change on U.S. transportation infrastructure: 1.
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From page 70... ...
These foundational topics derive from the research that needs to be done to assist transportation officials in carrying out the recommendations and decision framework in Special Report 290. Foundational Research Identification of Vulnerable Assets and Locations The first step recommended in Special Report 290 is for transportation officials to identify infrastructure potentially threatened by climate change.
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Understanding infrastructure life spans is a challenging problem even in the absence of the effects of climate change. Guidance may initially have to rely on judgment while this area of more basic research develops.
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The timing, location, and severity of climate change are uncertain. The costs and benefits of adaptation options may be definable with less uncertainty, but the estimates will not be precise.
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As she emphasizes, expert and practitioner stakeholders need to be intimately involved in the development of a research agenda to ensure its relevance. If a research program for adapting transportation to climate change is funded, a necessary first step would be to develop a detailed research agenda in these areas through extensive stakeholder engagement.
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From page 74... ...
The section of this chapter on research program design expands on the extensive role of stakeholders envisioned by McNeil. RESEARCH SCHEDULE McNeil's schedule begins with foundational research and supporting research activities, with most of the applied research gearing up after the second year and some even later.
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From page 75... ...
The stakeholder involvement that McNeil suggests for adaptation research is modeled on the processes used by the cooperative research programs managed by the Transportation Research Board and other applied research programs, such as those of the Association of American Railroads and the Electric Power Research Institute. In these programs, expert and practitioner stakeholders are engaged in suggesting research topics ("problem statements")
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From page 76... ...
Transportation Infrastructure: The Implica tions of Climate Change. Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C.
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From page 77... ...
2008. Special Report 290: Potential Impacts of Climate Change on U.S.
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