Climate change and extreme weather events have become significant concerns for the global transportation sector. In collaboration with the FHWA and FTA, TRB organized the First International Conference on Surface Transportation System Resilience to Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events to promote dialogue on research, implementation, and lessons learned on this important topic. The inaugural conference, which was held September 16—18, 2015, and webcast live from Washington, D.C., convened more than 500 experts from across the world to explore state-of-the-art research and emerging practices and policies on adapting surface transportation networks to the potential impacts of climate change and extreme weather events. Through a mix of plenary sessions, technical discussions in breakout sessions, and informal information exchanges, attendees explored the efforts of government, private sector, academia, business, and nonprofit organizations to bring the consideration of climate change and extreme weather resilience into the mainstream of all aspects of transportation decision making. Special focus was given to the development and application of climate information and innovative tools. The conference represented one component of a larger TRB focus on climate-related impacts on transportation. As part of its strategic planning process, TRB identifies critical issues that all programs and committees should address. Addressing the serious transportation-related challenges posed by climate change likely will require interdisciplinary strategies; therefore, the TRB Executive Committee decided to make climate resiliency one of the top three strategic issues for TRB to focus on in the next several years. Now, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has initiated four major policy studies related to climate change and has established a Resilient America Roundtable, which convenes experts from all sectors to design and catalyze activities to handle extreme weather events. This e-circular, prepared by the conference rapporteurs, follows the conference format and plenary sessions in chronological order. All research topics that speakers identified in the course of their presentations are included in the summary. The views expressed in the proceedings are those of the individual conference participants and do not necessarily represent the views of all participants; the planning team; the sponsoring committees; TRB; or the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. This e-circular has not been subjected to the formal TRB peer-review process. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting