Road Protection Against Climate Threats: Risk Assessment and Priorities

Abstract

Dr. Ing Anastasios MOURATIDIS

During the last decades, the frequency and the intensity of extreme weather events marked a net increase worldwide. Aggressive events, such as, storm surges, wildfires, floods, snowstorms and hurricanes, constitute a big threat to the in- tegrity of the road transport system, since they can severely harm the infrastructure and road assets. The threat can be- come even more severe to passengers, unexpectedly driven to face harsh weather events. In the field of road adaptation to climate hazards, multiple scientific approaches and protective measures taken have not produced yet the expected results. The road transport sector is still suffering from climatic hazards and undergoes severe deterioration in case of extreme events turning into disasters. The need for a method of reliable risk assessment leading to proactive measures to reinforce the road infrastructure and increase its resilience to climate threats still remains.

The risk assessment method herewith presented introduces a realistic approach for identifying and quantifying the climate related risk for the road traffic and infrastructure. The risk assessment examines four couples of stressors-haz- ards, namely, rainstorm/floods, long and heavy rainfall/landslides, high temperature/wildfires and snowfall/blizzard conditions. The method defines, for each couple, a generating factor, a contextual factor and two amplifying factors. The Risk Factor, for each stressor/hazard couple, is derived from an algorithm that interconnects these factors in a comprehensive way. Moreover, the issue of priorities to set in the frame of a policy of road adaptation to climate change, with regard to individuals (real-time road-users, potential road-users, neighboring inhabitants) and the in- frastructure (failures generating risks for road-users or, merely, traffic closures) is addressed to provide insight on a subject which may turn out to be crucial in case of disaster.

PDF