Progress and Challenges in Incorporating Climate Change Information into Transportation Research and Design

TLDR

The vulnerability of transportation infrastructure to climate change and extreme weather is well documented, and addressing these challenges requires collaboration between climate scientists and engineers. The authors aim to assess progress and outline steps needed for a smooth integration of climate science and engineering in transportation research. ICNet, an NSF‑supported collaboration network established in 2012, was created to investigate how to integrate climate science and engineering. ICNet’s experience demonstrates a new generation of innovation and cross‑disciplinary research, identifies challenges, and offers guidance for partnerships and methods to address complex questions.

Abstract

The vulnerability of our nation's transportation infrastructure to climate change and extreme weather is now well documented and the transportation community has identified numerous strategies to potentially mitigate these vulnerabilities. The challenges to the infrastructure sector presented by climate change can only be met through collaboration between the climate science community, who evaluate what the future will likely look like, and the engineering community, who implement our societal response. To facilitate this process, the authors asked: what progress has been made and what needs to be done now in order to allow for the graceful convergence of these two disciplines? In late 2012, the Infrastructure and Climate Network (ICNet), a National Science Foundation–supported research collaboration network, was established to answer that question. This article presents examples of how the ICNet experience has shown the way toward a new generation of innovation and cross-disciplinary research, challenges that can be address by such collaboration, and specific guidance for partnerships and methods to effectively address complex questions requiring a cogeneration of knowledge.