Planning to Build Resilience into Transportation Assets: Lessons Learned

Author(s):  
Beth Rodehorst ◽  
Brenda Dix ◽  
Brad Hurley ◽  
Jake Keller ◽  
Robert Hyman ◽  
...  

Although many state and local transportation agencies recognize the need to make transportation assets more resilient in the face of a changing climate, there have been few methods and best practices they can draw on to determine which assets may be compromised under future conditions and how to evaluate and select adaptation measures. Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Transportation Engineering Approaches to Climate Resiliency project sought to synthesize lessons learned and innovations from a variety of recent FHWA studies and pilots to help transportation agencies address changing climate conditions and extreme weather events at the asset level. This paper describes considerations for why, where, and how to integrate climate considerations into the project development process. It also discusses the types of climate information that should be considered, and summarizes lessons learned from FHWA’s studies and pilots—such as implementing adaptive designs, considering assets in a regional context, and exploring ecosystem-based adaptation solutions—that can be used to guide the process of developing adaptation strategies.

2019 ◽  
pp. 1636-1662
Author(s):  
João Porto de Albuquerque ◽  
Flávio Eduardo Aoki Horita ◽  
Livia Castro Degrossi ◽  
Roberto dos Santos Rocha ◽  
Sidgley Camargo de Andrade ◽  
...  

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) has emerged as an important additional source of information for improving the resilience of cities and communities in the face of natural hazards and extreme weather events. This chapter summarizes the existing research in this area and offers an interdisciplinary perspective of the challenges to be overcome, by presenting AGORA: A Geospatial Open collaboRative Architecture for building resilience against disasters and extreme events. AGORA structures the challenges of using VGI for disaster management into three layers: acquisition, integration and application. The chapter describes the research challenges involved in each of these layers, as well as reporting on the results achieved so far and the lessons learned in the context of flood risk management in Brazil. Furthermore, the chapter concludes by setting out an interdisciplinary research agenda for leveraging VGI to improve disaster resilience.


Author(s):  
João Porto de Albuquerque ◽  
Flávio Eduardo Aoki Horita ◽  
Livia Castro Degrossi ◽  
Roberto dos Santos Rocha ◽  
Sidgley Camargo de Andrade ◽  
...  

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) has emerged as an important additional source of information for improving the resilience of cities and communities in the face of natural hazards and extreme weather events. This chapter summarizes the existing research in this area and offers an interdisciplinary perspective of the challenges to be overcome, by presenting AGORA: A Geospatial Open collaboRative Architecture for building resilience against disasters and extreme events. AGORA structures the challenges of using VGI for disaster management into three layers: acquisition, integration and application. The chapter describes the research challenges involved in each of these layers, as well as reporting on the results achieved so far and the lessons learned in the context of flood risk management in Brazil. Furthermore, the chapter concludes by setting out an interdisciplinary research agenda for leveraging VGI to improve disaster resilience.


2019 ◽  
pp. 1698-1723
Author(s):  
João Porto de Albuquerque ◽  
Flávio Eduardo Aoki Horita ◽  
Livia Castro Degrossi ◽  
Roberto dos Santos Rocha ◽  
Sidgley Camargo de Andrade ◽  
...  

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) has emerged as an important additional source of information for improving the resilience of cities and communities in the face of natural hazards and extreme weather events. This chapter summarizes the existing research in this area and offers an interdisciplinary perspective of the challenges to be overcome, by presenting AGORA: A Geospatial Open collaboRative Architecture for building resilience against disasters and extreme events. AGORA structures the challenges of using VGI for disaster management into three layers: acquisition, integration and application. The chapter describes the research challenges involved in each of these layers, as well as reporting on the results achieved so far and the lessons learned in the context of flood risk management in Brazil. Furthermore, the chapter concludes by setting out an interdisciplinary research agenda for leveraging VGI to improve disaster resilience.


Author(s):  
Jolanta Nemaniute-Guziene ◽  
Justas Kazys

In Lithuania, like in other countries, climate change causes and will cause changes in natural and anthropogenic environment. The entire transport sector will be impacted, influencing the way it plans, designs, constructs and maintains infrastructure in the future. Roads are already sensitive to current climate variability. If today’s extreme weather events become both more frequent and extreme, so too will the level of disruption that they cause. Thus, roads must be adapted to changing climate conditions. The aim is to ensure resilience, to ensure that roads remain open under extreme weather conditions. The easiest and the most effective economically way is to implement adaptation measures for the new or reconstructed roads. But the existing older roads should be adapted also. The steps required to improve and maintain resilience of roads are definition of climate projections, identification of key roads and their vulnerability, identification and research on technologies for adaptation, preparation of methodologies, establishment of field operational trials. The aim of the research is to review Lithuanian roads in the context of climate change and its consequences. Methodology: climate and associated data collection and review, initial prognoses of the change (in short, medium and long term perspective) of meteorological elements, vulnerability assessment of the study area and the roads. Results: initial recommendations for adaptation action planning.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 157-196
Author(s):  
Eveline Vasquez-Arroyo ◽  
Fábio da Silva ◽  
Alberto Santos ◽  
Deborah Cordeiro ◽  
José Antônio Marengo ◽  
...  

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, which can affect energy systems. Thus, this study aims to evaluate impacts of meteorological events on the Brazilian energy system, through an analysis of recent reports. Cases of impacts on hydropower, power transmission and distribution, bioenergy crops and residential cooling demand in recent years are assessed. Finally, the challenges of energy planning in the face of climate change are analyzed and adaptation measures for the energy system are proposed, pointing out possible repercussions on water, food, socio-environmental and climate security.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise J. Slater ◽  
Chris Huntingford ◽  
Richard F. Pywell ◽  
John W. Redhead ◽  
Elizabeth J. Kendon

Abstract. Recent extreme weather events have had severe impacts on UK crop yields, and so there is concern that a greater frequency of extremes could affect crop production in a changing climate. Here we investigate potential future impacts of climate projections on wheat, the most widely grown cereal crop globally, in a temperate country with currently favourable wheat-growing conditions. Past and projected climate conditions are considered for key wheat growth stages (Foundation, Construction and Production). Historically, following the plateau of UK wheat yields since the 1990s, we find there has been a recent significant increase in wheat yield volatility, which is partially explained by seasonal metrics of temperature and precipitation, including mean, extremes, and intra-seasonal variability. Strong associations between climate and yield anomalies occur during years with cumulative climate impacts across growth stages, when climate extremes ‘escape’ the ability of farmers to adapt through agronomic means. We then analyse the latest 2.2 km UK Climate Projections for the UK’s three main wheat-growing regions. Climate projections indicate that on average across the three regions, the Foundation growth stage (broadly 1st October to 9th April) is likely to become warmer and wetter, while the Construction (10th April to 10th June) and Production (11th June to 26th July) stages are likely to become warmer and slightly drier. An analogue approach, comparing historical climate conditions with future climate projections, reveals a mixed picture of future climate conditions for UK crop yields. Projected warmer winter night temperatures are likely to prove beneficial in the Foundation stage, but concurrent increases in heavy rain may be detrimental. Similarly, warmer and drier mean conditions may enhance yields during the Production stage, but increases in high temperatures and heat variability may increase plant stress, while decreases in rainfall may also threaten adequate water supply. Since future climatic conditions are likely to move outside the historically observed range, there may be challenges for agriculture to adapt management practices to realise any potential benefits.


Author(s):  
Karl Kim ◽  
Oceana Francis ◽  
Eric Yamashita

There is increased recognition of the value of resilience thinking yet few studies have examined key experiences and lessons for the transportation industry. This paper presents eight case studies on natural and man-made disasters focusing on transportation impacts, lessons learned, and efforts to increase resilience. The cases are the Atlanta snowstorm, I-35W bridge collapse, Boston Marathon bombing, Puna lava highway closing, superstorm Sandy, Hampton Roads sea level rise study, Fukushima disaster, and the Oregon Resilience Plan. The cases are used to inform transportation agencies to better respond to and recover from disasters, as well as improve the resilience of transportation systems. In addition to integrating resilience into the management of transportation assets, new technologies and tools relevant to transportation resilience are described.


Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Kelly L. Bennett ◽  
William Owen McMillan ◽  
Jose R. Loaiza

Ae. (Stegomyia) aegypti L. and Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus Skuse mosquitoes are major arboviral disease vectors in human populations. Interspecific competition between these species shapes their distribution and hence the incidence of disease. While Ae. albopictus is considered a superior competitor for ecological resources and displaces its contender Ae. aegypti from most environments, the latter is able to persist with Ae. albopictus under particular environmental conditions, suggesting species occurrence cannot be explained by resource competition alone. The environment is an important determinant of species displacement or coexistence, although the factors underpinning its role remain little understood. In addition, it has been found that Ae. aegypti can be adapted to the environment across a local scale. Based on data from the Neotropical country of Panama, we present the hypothesis that local adaptation to the environment is critical in determining the persistence of Ae. aegypti in the face of its direct competitor Ae. albopictus. We show that although Ae. albopictus has displaced Ae. aegypti in some areas of Panama, both species coexist across many areas, including regions where Ae. aegypti appear to be locally adapted to dry climate conditions and less vegetated environments. Based on these findings, we describe a reciprocal transplant experiment to test our hypothesis, with findings expected to provide fundamental insights into the role of environmental variation in shaping the landscape of emerging arboviral disease.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document