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Infrastructure

Roadways in a rut

Nature Climate Change volume 7, pages 694–695 (2017)Cite this article

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Higher air temperatures cause roadway surfaces to deteriorate more rapidly. Now research suggests that adapting design and material selection procedures to use future climate information can dramatically decrease the damage and ensuing repair cost.

Projected temperature increases due to climate change will have consequences for the longevity of roadways. Heat-softened roads will be damaged more quickly by vehicle traffic, requiring more frequent maintenance to preserve safe travel conditions in the future. Writing in Nature Climate Change, Underwood and colleagues1 project that the cost of this additional maintenance will be US$35.8 billion by 2070 under RCP 8.5 — a high emissions scenario — if current design methods, which assume climate stationarity, continue to be used.

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References

  1. Underwood, B. S. et al. Nat. Clim. Change 7, 704–707 (2017).

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  2. National Transportation Statistics (Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Washington, DC, accessed August 2017); http://go.nature.com/2vH8jtg

  3. Melillo, J. M., Terese, R. & Yohe, G. W. (eds) Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment (US Global Change Research Program, 2017); http://doi.org/ccrz

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  9. Knott, J. F., Daniel, J. S., Jacobs, J. M., Kirshen, P. & Elshaer, M. J. Transport. Res. Board http://doi.org/ccr4 (2017).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Center for Infrastructure Resilience to Climate, University of New Hampshire, Durham, 03824, New Hampshire, USA

    Jo Sias Daniel

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  1. Jo Sias Daniel
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Correspondence to Jo Sias Daniel.

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Daniel, J. Roadways in a rut. Nature Clim Change 7, 694–695 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3396

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3396

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