01554224

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/2510-11

A key assumption in planning is that weather and climate events may vary from year to year but climate remains stable over the long term and can be predicted on the basis of past return values. This assumption underpins most design standards, operations and maintenance programs, and planning for transportation projects and programs. However, climate change is altering the risk of many types of weather extremes, including the frequency, severity, or both, of high temperatures, heavy precipitation events, coastal flooding, and storms. This concept of nonstationarity (i.e., that future climate conditions and weather risks will differ from those in the past) challenges scientists and engineers to incorporate climate change into present-day planning when the future is manifestly uncertain. A general framework is presented for incorporating observed and projected future climate trends into infrastructure planning. The issues that remain to be resolved, including the challenges confronted in translating climate and weather-related extremes to information that is directly relevant to assessing potential impacts on infrastructure, are highlighted.

01587391

15-5499

English

pp 90–97

2015

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

9780309369329

Print

Figures (5) ; References (36)

Climate change; Forecasting; Information processing; Infrastructure; Transportation planning; Weather and climate

Environment; Geotechnology; Pavements; Planning and Forecasting; Transportation (General); I15: Environment; I20: Design and Planning of Transport Infrastructure; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 30 2014 1:51PM

• Assessment of Retaining Wall Inventories for Geotechnical Asset Management
• Effects of Particle Size and Fines Content on Thermal Conductivity of Quartz Sands
• Frost Depth: General Prediction Model
• Historical Analysis of Tunnel Approach Displacements with Satellite Remote Sensing
• Incorporating the Effect of Moisture Variation on Resilient Modulus for Unsaturated Fine-Grained Subgrade Soils
• Model for Seasonal Variation of Resilient Modulus in Silty Sand Subgrade Soil: Evaluation with Falling Weight Deflectometer
• Modified Unconfined Compression Testing System to Characterize Stress–Strain Behavior of Unsaturated Soils at Low Confining Stresses
• Resilient Modulus of Fine-Grained Soils for Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design
• Rock Slopes Asset Management: Selecting the Optimal Three-Dimensional Remote Sensing Technology
• Seasonal Effects on a Low-Volume Road Flexible Pavement