Transportation Planning, Policy and Climate Change: Making the Long Term Connection
Record Type: UTC

Climate change and variability will have significant impacts on the future mobility of the population in this country. Previous research conducted by the co-PIs has found that the transportation sector is not considering adaptation as a solution to these potential impacts. Further, preliminary results from a current SWUTC project -- Climate Change/Variability Science and Adaptive Strategies for State and Regional Transportation Decision Making -- suggest that state and regional transportation planners are not integrating climate change science and impacts into their decision and planning processes. This runs counterintuitive to the traditional long range focus of these planning processes, however. Our findings suggest several reasons for this situation, including: uncertainty in regard to climate science, lack of resources, other problems that require more short term attention, a lack of understanding of the problem, and the desire to avoid the issue as too political. These findings raise significant questions that are addressed in this project. If transportation decision makers are not concerned with climate change, why not, and will this situation continue even as climate change is recognized as a significant threat to the health and mobility needs of society, and its infrastructure? Can the question of uncertainty in regard to climate science be resolved as an issue as far as policy makers are concerned? What other long range issues are considered more significant to planners and policy makers? This project is developing a greater understanding of decision and policy processes, not only in regard to climate change and adaptation, but to other long range planning issues that may be in conflict with climate change scenarios. Coastal areas in particular are seen as vulnerable to climate change and variability, and thus comprise the regional focus of this study. From a temporal perspective we are interested in adaptation to abrupt climate change (discrete climate events such a hurricane or storms) as well as longer term incremental changes traditionally associated with global warming. This project is expanding the current research on adaptation to climate change from the transportation planning and policy perspective to include mobility and coastal impacts issues. Specific focus is placed on identifying and framing “best practices.” The project culminates with a workshop with regional and national transportation planners and decision makers on this topic in conjunction with Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) centers, staff and researchers.
Start date: 2007/9/1
End date: 2010/2/28
Status: Active
Contract/Grant Number: DTRT06-G-0044
Secondary Number: 00004
Total Dollars: 50000
Source Organization: University Transportation Center for Mobility
Date Added: 08/27/2007
Index Terms: Transportation planning, Climate change, Mobility, Infrastructure, Coast and river protective works, Coastal engineering, Coastal zone management, Society, Hurricanes, Policy making, Decision making,

University Transportation Center for Mobility
http://utcm.tamu.edu
Texas Transportation Institute
Texas A&M University System
3135 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-3135
USA
Phone: (979) 845-2538
Fax: (979) 845-9761

Tooley, Melissa S
Phone: (979) 845-8545
Fax: (979) 845-9761
Email: m-tooley@tamu.edu

Texas A&M University, College Station
George Bush School of Government and Public Service
4350 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-4350
USA

Lindquist, Eric
Phone: (979) 862-3857

Vedlitz, Arnie
Phone: (979) 845-2929
Fax: ( 979) 862-8856
Email: avedlitz@bushschool.tamu.edu