01698281

Component

Recent projections suggest up to two meters or more of global mean sea-level rise by end of century, progressively making coastal flood events more frequent and more severe. The impact on transportation systems along coastal regions is likely to be substantial. An analysis of impacts for Atlantic and Cape May counties in southern New Jersey is conducted. The impact on accessibility to employment is analyzed using a dataset of sea-level increases merged with road network (TIGER) data and Census data on population and employment. Using measures of accessibility, it is shown how access will be reduced at the block-group level. An additional analysis of low and high income quartiles suggest that lower-income block groups will have greater reductions in accessibility. The implication is that increasing sea levels will have large impacts on people and the economy, and large populations will have access to employment disrupted well before their own properties or places of employment may begin to flood (assuming no adaptation).

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee A0020T Special Task Force on Climate Change and Energy.

19-03843

English

8p

2019

Transportation Research Board 98th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Maps; References; Tables

Accessibility; Coasts; Economic impacts; Employment; Environmental impacts; Sea level

New Jersey

Environment; Highways; Planning and Forecasting

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2019 Paper #19-03843

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 7 2018 9:50AM