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," sh