Report Sees Dire Future for Warming's Impact on U.S. Transport

Transportation’s contribution to global warming has been well articulated. It’s responsible for 33 percent of United States emissions from fossil fuel combustion — more if you count the life-cycle emissions from extracting fuel and manufacturing vehicles. Now, for the first time, the government is taking an in-depth look at the flip scenario: how global warming is affecting transportation.

A report released recently by the National Research Council, in collaboration with the Transportation Research Board, has a clear message for transportation professionals: Stop thinking of climate change as just a future problem, and start dealing with the realities of it today. According to the study, every mode of transport will be affected — and in fact many already have been.

Current infrastructure is built for typical weather and a reasonable range of extremes, but that’s not what we can expect for the future. The best available science indicates that we’re going to experience hotter days, higher seas, more intense storms and a warmer Arctic. These human-induced changes may sometimes be amplified by natural climate fluctuations, creating extremes never before experienced in modern times.
Potentially the greatest impact for North America will be flooded coastal roads, railways, transit systems and runways caused by rising seas and exacerbated by storm surges and land subsidence. Several of the largest ports in the U.S., plus oil and gas operations, are located on the Gulf Coast — the vulnerability of which has already been clearly demonstrated. But infrastructure on the East Coast, Pacific Northwest and parts of California will be affected, too.

SF Chronicle