Report: Climate Change to Endanger Transportation Network

Public transportation has long been applauded as a “green” way to commute or travel. Ironically, a new report suggests the environmental problems transportation is trying to alleviate (namely, climate change) could threaten the smooth, efficient operation of such systems.

The report, produced by the National Research Council, indicates the biggest impacts to transportation will be from coastal flooding. It is no secret that the world’s oceans are rising from melting glaciers, among other factors. Naturally, higher ocean levels mean daily tides and abnormal storm surges will reach further inland, threatening to repeatedly flood railroads, airport runways and highways.

This is of great concern to New England, when one notes the number of major transportation corridors that run near the Atlantic. Heading north from New York City, Interstate 95 closely parallels the Connecticut coast through the major cities of Stamford, Bridgeport and New Haven. The highway then reconnects with the ocean in Providence, R.I., and Portsmouth, N.H. before paralleling the New Hampshire and Maine coasts into Portland. Meanwhile, Amtrak’s heavily traveled Northeast Corridor follows a similar coastal route. This does not even include Boston’s Logan Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport which are perched right on Boston Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean, respectively.

The report lists greater temperature extremes and stronger storms and hurricanes as other potential climate-related transportation threats.

So, is it a doomsday for transportation in the United States? Not necessarily, as the report notes some positive effects of climate change. For example, melting ice will open new and shorter shipping lanes and less snowfall will mean governments will have to spend less clearing roadways (well, maybe that latter argument is less strong after this winter).

But, ultimately, protecting the country’s infrastructure will require extensive mitigation efforts by transportation planners and federal, state and local government bodies and agencies. These groups need to adapt existing infrastructure to the changes and compensate for a warming climate in all future projects. How exactly that can be accomplished and funded will be the true challenge of the next few years. Otherwise, we may need a duck boat to travel from New York to Boston.