Climate Change and Freight-Transportation Infrastructure: Current Challenges for Adaptation
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 19, Issue 4
Abstract
The transportation system infrastructure in the United States is vital to sustaining the nation’s economy, safety, and well-being. In its recent special report, Potential Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Transportation, the National Research Council concluded that climate change will have significant impacts on transportation systems, affecting design, construction, operation, and maintenance. Furthermore, the report calls for a focus on the problem now through adaptation planning to avoid costly future investments and disruptions to operations. This begins with sharing information, resources, best practices, and lessons learned across jurisdictional lines and among different stakeholders. With this in mind, a select group of stakeholders representing the freight-transportation industry and climate science participated in a summit held at Vanderbilt University in 2011, to reach consensus on the needs and challenges that must be addressed in order for successful adaptation strategies to emerge. This paper presents a brief review of the relevant literature on this topic, shares the outcomes and findings of summit deliberations, and provides recommendations for a path forward.
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Acknowledgments
The summit was made possible through support from the Intermodal Freight Transportation Institute, the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment, and the Vanderbilt Center for Transportation Research. The authors appreciate the cooperation and time put into the summit by attendees and extend a special thanks to steering committee members: Craig Philip (CEO, Ingram Barge Company), Gerry Schwartz (former President and Chairman of Sverdrup/Jacobs Civil, Inc. and former Chair of the Committee on Climate Change and U.S. Transportation), Kathleen White (Senior Lead on Global and Climate Change, Institute for Water Resources, USACE), and Tom Wilbanks (Oak Ridge National Laboratory Corporate Fellow and International Panel on Climate Change member).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 19 • Issue 4 • December 2013
Pages: 363 - 370
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 18, 2012
Accepted: Feb 20, 2013
Published online: Feb 22, 2013
Discussion open until: Jul 22, 2013
Published in print: Dec 1, 2013
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