Climate Change Vulnerabilities and Risk Based Management Approaches Used on Transportation Assets

Climate change is being recognized as a threat to transportation infrastructure and systems. The climate change impacts on transportation systems will be felt short term via episodic-extreme weather events and long-term climatic changes resulting from increased temperatures. These climate change impacts to transportation infrastructure have the potential of causing significant disruption in the movement of goods and services and impacting the overall quality of life to many residents and communities. This paper provides an overview of climate change risk management approaches for transportation systems with a national and international perspective. A literature review was conducted to identify climate change risk management approaches used in the United States, Europe, and New Zealand. Vulnerability analysis strategies, risk management approaches, and climate change adaptation plans for these countries were identified, reviewed, and compared. Similar risk management approaches were identified between countries with differing governmental requirements and regulations. There are a limited number of countries worldwide that have developed risk-based transportation programs to adapt to climate change.