Image: Flickr/skydiveone
From polluting exhaust spewed from tailpipes to caved-in roadways due to extreme weather, transportation and climate change have an intimate and insidious relationship, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) has outlined in a new paper.
"It's particularly timely now because we're seeing so many weather phenomena, from heat records to wildfires and severe droughts," said Cynthia Burbank, vice president of the global infrastructure consulting firm Parsons Brinckerhoff and an author of the document.
Based on studies by TRB and the National Academy of Sciences, the paper released last week is designed to be a succinct resource for professionals in the field on how transportation contributes to and is affected by climate change.
"It's obvious now that the climate is changing, so it's a good time to get [the information] in front of transportation folks to help them understand the climate issue, what is transportation's role in it, and what can be done to both adapt to a changing climate and reduce the impact," she said.
Transportation is the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, at nearly 30 percent of the total output. It's also an area ripe for improvement.
Later this summer, the Obama administration is on track to finalize a 54.5 mpg fleetwide fuel economy standard for 2025. That policy and support for research on alternative fuels will make substantial inroads in reducing transportation emissions, said Burbank.
But with little to no movement on climate change legislation in Congress, the responsibility to tackle transportation's contribution has fallen on state and local leaders. And action depends largely on whether the public and elected officials understand climate change and think it's a high-priority issue, said Burbank.
Steering around the politics
In red states where residents are generally less supportive of climate science, transportation departments are more hesitant to engage in mitigation activities, she said. Adaptation, however, is a more universal concern.
"They may be in states where the public is skeptical ... but they're seeing the impacts, too," said Burbank.
In recent years, U.S. transportation infrastructure has taken a beating from extreme weather. Record-level flooding in 2010 and last year washed out roadways in Tennessee, Rhode Island, Iowa and Wisconsin, for instance. And in Vermont, Tropical Storm Irene turned sections of Route 107 into gaping holes.
Intense weather also disrupts and delays mass transit and freight networks, leaving its mark in economic loss.
Floods, rain and high winds aren't the only concerns. Just outside Washington, D.C., three Metro cars derailed earlier this month near the West Hyattsville station when air temperatures spiked above 95 degrees Fahrenheit, causing a "heat kink" in which the tracks got so hot they buckled.
While nearly all state and local transportation departments are addressing infrastructure adaptation in some way, certain states, such as Washington, Oregon, California and Massachusetts, are also taking on climate mitigation.
Reducing the number of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) is the most effective way to lower emissions, and transportation pricing is the best way to reduce VMT, said Burbank.
"It seems clear to me that the biggest way we're going to get reduction in VMT is if we have the guts to do pricing," she said. "Whether it's congestion or carbon pricing that would raise the cost of fuels, or parking pricing, they give everyone an incentive to think about how much they're driving."
She added, "But, of course, it's politically controversial."
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26 Comments
Add Comment"What really needs to happen is roads being built to last and learning to live with any climate change. Conservation efforts or attempting to force everyone into artificial fixes will do nothing but exacerbate the problems and likely kill of vast numbers of humans."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFirst you cry about the money wasted building roads and now you think we all need to spend more money building better roads so more people can drive on them and then you say conservation efforts will likely kill off vast numbers of people.
You are a very confused individual. Roads are built by communal effort (hello...that is communism) which means more taxes to build better roads then we already have. The biggest killer of people besides old age is traffic accidents and now, you think lowering the VMT count will result in vast numbers of people being killed. Why? Do you think if there is less traffic people will drive faster and cause more accidents?
If you are so concerned about humans dieing you need to join the anti-war movements and go after the tobacco companies and the fast food industry. Instead you, like the rest of the phoney conservatives decry conservative thinking. Go figure!
Oh look, the anti-science clown car arrives immediately on any article that contains the word "climate" or "evolution" in it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNote that the clown car assiduously avoids any articles with "gravity" (it's just a theory anyway) or "magnetism" (it's too mesmerizing?) But mention the basic physics of CO2's role as a GHG and the fairly easily calculated human contribution of CO2 to the atmosphere and here they come, little car going beep beep and all the clowns tumbling out of it to pull each others pants down and give each other exploding cigars.
Climate is changing, it is driven largely by human-caused contributions to atmospheric CO2 levels. It doesn't take a "rocket surgeon" to figure out that higher temps and more acidic water (CO2 in water a.k.a. acid rain) will increase the damage it does to pavement (as well as to buildings, forests and people)
When you throw in the obvious fact that as temperatures increase, so does the energy available to form storms, and so does the amount of water suspended in the air. More precipitation is going to be delivered with more energy. Not exactly difficult to understand why they problem needs to be addressed.
Unless you've got a funny red bulb for a nose and shoes that are 5 times longer than your feet. Then you can ignore reality and pretend that hitting people with gigantic mallets doesn't hurt.
Oh yeah, note that the global conspiracy *only* affects climate science and biological evolution. It's a very tightly controlled global conspiracy they speak of, isn't it?
It is you who are confused. We already waste money on roads not built to last. Suggesting we build better roads is a savings. Apparently, when anyone detracts from global warming theories, you just respond with ridiculous comments.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCommunism is a well known political definition which is well above a ridiculous comment that because a group of people pay for it, it is somehow communism. Try something more substantial next time.
And yes, reducing VMT will likely result in death. The only way to achieve it is to force people to live in giant dense cities of apartments and imposing tyrannical rule to be able to force this to happen. As all communist or tyrannies have proven, form that kind of authoritarian rule and people die.
And you end this with anti-war? The only people who are pro-war are megalomaniac psychos, tyrants, communists and religious fanatics all of whom believe they have the right to kill and conquer in the name of their ideology or in the case of the psychos, just because they can. So unless your anti-war movement is directed at the actual perpetrators it has no meaning. The western world and other allied countries have already moved beyond using war for territorial gain or to pillage.
Great, you described your fantasy computer model climate, built off your beliefs on how climate works and plugged with numbers you cant possibly know like the existence of a global average temperature and assuming this is even a real number, then determining what that number should be.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSorry to break the news but CO2 only works as you describe in your models. In the real world, it does not increase heat in a linear fashion, where the more CO2 the more heat reflecting. You people also dont account for any of the other chemicals in the air, most of which have a greater effect on heat and are in higher concentrations that CO2.
All that said, the biggest factor you people leave out, a fact that actually makes your case is the existence of 7 billion humans all producing heat and that heat has to go somewhere, likely the air. So instead of discovering your computer model incorrectly predicted the heat increase and declaring it in the deep ocean now(previous SA article) how about seeing what real effects humans have.
And by the way, you people still have not ruled out natural effects. The planet has warmed itself numerous times, far higher than now, with and without CO2, which has also been higher than any prediction.
Mitigate for the warming and you can deal with warming caused by humans, natural or a combination of the two.
Which gets back to the point of the article. The roads are not going to fall apart because of global warming and pollution. They will fall apart because they are built to break down so there is an excuse to build them again. Aside from that, with 7 billion humans today and another 7 billion on the way, the mere use of the roads by twice as many people will be the damage to roads.
Always the same with you warmists. You want so badly to blame a natural substance like CO2 and create all this totally unprovable nonsense from models and theories so you have an excuse to exist and take money from people. When in reality, your plans are likely to kill more people than save, if the previous article from you people on how it is better to manufacture a new atmosphere so humans can control it, is any indicator.
What a bunch of B.S.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe premise? Wildfires, etc. Hint...according to U.S. Forest Service wildfires are LOWER in the U.S. than average. The biggie in Colorado has simply gotten media attention because of it's location. Wild fires in all of North America are at a 30 year low according to Environment Canada. 'Scientific American' needs some actual science editors.
Considering that half the country has already burnt down in the past decade and the other half in now farmland and wood framed houses, you may be right. The fire season is slower then normal. Think of it like a wood pile before and after winter. When it runs out you tend to burn a lot less of it. Of course that's a concept that high school dropouts like you apparently can't comprehend just like preddseren can't understand how lowering VMT can lower traffic deaths.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf I remember correctly, preddseren is the self declared moderator that once told me he warned me not to post anything anymore because he said so, (which was a total lie as he never addressed me before), like I really cared what the mouthy clown said anyway. Now he is the biggest blow hard on the blog.
Trust me on this, you are both very confused. Increased temperature variations which cause expansion and contraction, rain acidity, floods and asphalt softening heat do in fact wreck roads and the rate at which they are crumbling is directly proportional to the rate of global warming whether you believe it or not.
One of the biggest threats damage done to our interstate highways. The acid in the rain leaks into the cracks caused by temperature induce expansion and the steel in the concrete rusts and swells up, causing even more cracks and ultimately the failure of critical bridges and overpasses. It is beginning to look like the Romans had a better plan by using cobble stones and stone arched bridges. Of course, that would lead to many more jobs for American labor, and we all know the big corporations that get the contracts can't build the roads over seas, and they don't want to sacrifice profit for American jobs, so we will just all sit back and watch them rot like that bridge in Minneapolis that fell down.
It's just like you republicans to bury your head in the sand and blame it all on someone else.
Great, more taxes, more government spending and more government funded research to build better roads.... you know those socialist lefty things built by commies to rob us of our individuality.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOr were you under the impression that roads were built by the private sector?
As always, love you bizarre inability to comprehend reality.
To get back to Basics- Roads that have decades of neglect such as has happened in America ,will deteriorate at an accelerating rate and will become uncomfortable to drive on.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFrom what I have been learning recently the Eisenhower era of Road Building is well over. At the end of that Administration there was an excellent network, that has suffered from inept Politicians ever since.
Roading is not the only system to be neglected-Water Supply,Sewage Disposal,Electric Power Supply,Flood Protection are all essentials that have been starved of money .
Spent instead on Nuclear Submarines ,Nuclear power Aircraft Carriers,mind bogglingly expensive stealth Bombers and super modern fighters.
Almost forgot those hordes of Drones that are used here there and everywhere.
The cost of maintaining the Nuclear Deterrent because of the Soviet Union must also be astronomical.
A Deterrent against something that no longer exists.
The USSR collapsed because of the crippling cost of their Army,Navy,Air Force ,KGB etc.
Might be a lesson to be learned there.
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Good points you make elderlybloke. All those things we waste money on that you mentioned are designed to be obsolete in a few decades. The Romans knew a strong empire was based on roads lasting centuries and many have far outlived that expectation. American industry is based on producing roads and every other product to become useless far sooner then they need to be made. The twin towers that were imploded on 911 are a prime example. They were hardly one generation old and already the owner was faced with a massive expense to tear them down or clean out the asbestos. Instead he made millions on a double indemnity policy and got the government to clean up the mess and deal with the health problems of all that asbestos.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNow that global warming is a threat to our roads and other infrastructure, the people with the most money are the first to insist it is communism to spend it on anything that is a collective benefit for society. This attitude is what will destroy America from within, not the climate change itself. That can be dealt with, but only if we are all willing to 'cough up the bucks' as the cliche goes.
Ignoring urban trafficways for the moment, as I understand the German Autobahn requires far less repair than the American Interstate highway system for one basic reason: the autobahn's concrete substrate is about 2 ft. thick while interstate highways' are about 1 ft thick. I think that the constant repair of interstate highways, often with very temporary asphalt patches is a significant source of atmospheric pollution on its own. Perhaps the federal government should consider adopting the technical standards for roadway surfaces set by the Autobahn and replacing the interstate highway system!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree. We have neglected our infrastructure too long. If we are going to invest in updating it, we need to make sure we learn from our mistakes and build it right this time.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOne of my gripes is that by the time a road project to expand a roads capacity is approved and construction starts, it is already time to look into the next expansion. We need to start taking into consideration the length of the approval processes and plan roads in line with the fact that the capacity needed will be much higher than what we think is needed right now.
Has anyone considered how much space is required by roads or any number of other infrastructure projects? We need ways to reduce the footprint of the infrastructure while increasing the capacity and improving the reliability. Don't build elevated roads in earthquake prone areas... try underground roadways that take into account the different faults they would cross. Built them tough and you will not need to spend so much rebuilding them afterwards.
We engineers grow tired of this silly religion of Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming. It is a failed hypothesis. Move on to science please!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOkay Dr. Wilson, here's the science in a nutshell -- the temperature increments of potential climate change are generally interpreted by most laypersons as air temperature. However, the planet's biosphere is a closely-coupled system involving both the atmosphere and the oceans encircling the planet. It extends from the highest elevations of the atmosphere to the bottom depths of those oceans; there are layers and currents in each subsystem, and each subsystem can affect and influence the other (e.g., El Nino, La Nina) through exchanges of heat.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou may have heard of the Global Conveyor -- the linked series of underwater currents which extend throughout all of the planet's oceans and involve water movement at various temperatures and salinity levels through many different underwater elevations from top to bottom (the Gulf Stream is but one near the surface). There are flow patterns in each subsystem which distribute the heat within it and that which is exchanged between atmosphere and oceans among their respective layers from top to bottom around the planet.
The warming effects from a huge outpouring of atmospheric CO2 by human combustion of geologically sequestered carbon-based fuels that accrued over hundreds of millions of years in the short span of a few thousand years (to include the beginning of the Iron Age) acts on both the atmosphere and oceans, but more caloric energy and/or time is required to heat water than it does to heat air by some given amount of temperature -- air warms and cools at a faster rate than water. The ability to discern temperature influences or effects from CO2-induced warming on the oceans requires both a lot of reliable data and some understanding of what the dynamic "background" conditions for the various layers and currents, and integration of the human knowledge in those aspects has lagged behind that of the atmosphere but is now becoming more clear.
The following press release (with links to the article where the research is published) may not convince those in absolute denial of any possible human effect on the planetary biosphere, but the science-based conclusion is that the increasing temperatures from human-produced CO2 on warming the planet are now reaching the deeper levels of the oceans in measurable ways.
http://www.llnl.gov/news/newsreleases/2012/Jun/NR-12-06-04.html
If you've forgotten the "laws of thermodynamics", here's the link to Wikipedia's very readable article on the subject as a refresher course.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_thermodynamics
The real issue is not whether the US needs to invest more $$$ in its infrastructure simply to maintain and renew what has been built over the past century -- what SHOULD be the real issue is how the existing political decision system directs new funding into new highways on new alignments into and through undeveloped areas with justification based around propaganda, demagoguery and concealment.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDeliberate expansion of road networks into undeveloped areas to enable, facilitate, support and stimulate new development is an intrinsic part of the political spoils which accrue to winning candidates and their financial supporters who acquired land in those regions at low prices -- and can subsequently flip it for a higher price, or hold and eventually develop it for a much, much higher profit. In turn, some of those profits at each stage are re-invested into various electoral campaigns for officeholders at all levels and local bond elections. This pattern of crony-capitalist syndication grew out of the Gilded Age and flourished in Southern California from the 1900's onward, proving so successful that the same business pattern became well-established throughout every part of the US and other countries as modern road networks were built.
Transportation investments in the US derive from State and local (metropolitan, county and city) decisionmaking on WHAT to construct in processes dominated by development interests focused on near-term objectives and financial benefits to the private sector.
State DOT engineers involved in conceptualizing and justifying potential projects have routinely underassessed long-term effects on environment and spatial urban development in NEPA processes before commitment decisions are finalized. MPOs, COGs and other "cooperative" ("co-opted") regional entities are unable to challenge inaccuracy and bias toward sprawl-inducing project recommendations due to political and economic factors at local levels which preclude honest and independent technical assessment. This fundamental failure in public governance has existed at least since inception of NEPA requirements 40+ years ago, and probably since inception of the Federal-Aid Highway Program almost a century ago.
The CO2 produced by motor vehicles and their utilization in relation to sprawling development patterns over this past century is a direct and significant factor toward modern-day climate change. This situation will not change until such basic corruption of the institutional environment is explicitly recognized and significantly altered.
The solution is obvious. Invent a flying carpet transport system. Small unit loading a mid size unit to supply a massive flying carpet. I noticed a paper size unit is in the lab stage.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI would also remind everyone that a solar storm is predicted for the end of 2012. I expect a 700 % surge for 7 days. That should turn asphalt to smoke. It will boil the seas. Find a deep hole.
I believe in the freedom of religion, but please, keep the Great Religion of Global Warming out of engineering.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am an engineer Dr. Wilson...have been for almost 40 years of working on various types of transportation and development projects around the US, Asia and Africa. And by the way, just what sort of "Dr." are you -- the witch kind, or simply the demagogic sort?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEither way, you'd do well to remember the basic canon of a physician: "First, do no harm."
Dear jtdwyer,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe amount of concrete or any other material to construct a road is determined by the bearing capacity of the subgrade.
When I was involved the design was done using the CBR value
and referring to AASHO standards.
AASHO did extensive testing during the 1950s and produced copious design material (A stack of paper about a foot high).
We could design roads and bridges to the loading standard required and this was done even down here in New Zealand.
Engineers can build and maintain a good roading system if the Politicians provide the necessary money.
Дороги могут разрушаться из-за изменения процессов происходящих в ядре Земли которые создают трещины в земной коре и тремор сопровождающийся необычным звуком зафиксированный в видиороликах по всему миру.Глобальное изменение климата это экологический сигнал изменения формы Земли.Глобальное изменение климата и резкие изменения погоды это показатель скорости изменения формы Земли,антропогенный фактор это ускоритель этих процессов
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisKynaz -- Google's translation into English of your submission in Russian turns out this way:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Roads can be destroyed due to the change processes occurring in the Earth's core to create fissures in the earth's crust and tremors accompanied by unusual sounds recorded in vidiorolikah miru.Globalnoe around climate change is an environmental signal to change the shape of Zemli.Globalnoe climate change and the dramatic changes in weather is a measure of the rate changes in the shape of the Earth, anthropogenic factor is the accelerator of these processes"
Seems both an inaccurate and garbled translation of your literal words, but perhaps also just a bit too fanciful in ascribing great weight to some change in the planet's shape as a factor in climatic change in the biosphere.
Sorry did not mean to offend.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank you for responding with your lengthy ad hominem. It helps me understand that you are getting lost in the details. You are forgetting about the earth's molten core and the petroleum and heat that it brings to the surface.
However, you need to go back to the basics and understand the source of global warming: http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/originals/policy_driven_deception.html
Wonderful responses, start off with insulting ad hominem attack on those who follow scientific fact. Whine about response, then present "evidence" a political site that provides junk science and lies based on a political ideology.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGreat way to add nothing whatsoever to the debate.
"We engineers..." What? You got crabs? No engineer worth their salt would designs roads for the future without taking into account the climate change we are measuring everyday.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI wouldn't hire you to design a kids swing set.
I know you were joking, but as a matter of fact that is what most sensible countries have done. It is called trains. Americans built the roads so they didn't have to deal with the inconvenience of trains that only stopped in towns and cities. Plus these same people actually had to face the prospect of walking more then 50 ft to get anywhere besides the train station. Our solution was the private automobile and a network of roads where millions die every year while we worry about the weather.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat a country. Doomed to self destruction as quickly as it grew. All because of people who can't see the forest anymore because their money is in the way.
24. singing flea ,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou should reduce your estimate of deaths on US road by
a factor of Three.
As long as the low bidder builds the road to minimum standards, the United States will have roads that wear out. Bridges built to last for 20 years can not be expected to last 50 without having some fail. Roads built without adequate substrate preparation will wear out much faster that those properly built. (Some places are now building truck lanes besides existing expressways with stronger bases.) Of course it is easy to blame the effects of slip shod construction on global warming.
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