This new joint report with Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) covers the impacts of extreme weather on physical road infrastructure, offering guidance for practitioners in implementing adaptation measures and pathways, with case studies showing successful physical interventions that can mitigate such impacts. Overall, the report shows how preparing road infrastructure now is key to long-term resilience, saving costs, and protecting communities and the economy.
Key takeaways from the report:
- Urgency to act now and be prepared: Adaptation and resilience should be made an immediate policy priority and investment. Extreme weather events are happening with increased frequency and intensity – it is imperative that we act now to mitigate the risk of possible losses.
- Funding for maintenance: Investment in maintenance of our existing highways and infrastructure to ensure continued, efficient use of the network. Incremental adaptation and proactive maintenance of infrastructure are crucial to improving resilience and meeting decarbonisation goals.
- Mandatory assessments of the current and future resilience of the infrastructure: Statutory requirements issued by legislative road authorities for transport asset owners to carry out resilience assessments will help identify vulnerabilities.
- Building a nationwide leadership: Road authorities should produce coherent and consistent guidance for the sector on how to undertake risk assessments on resilience, preventing non-transferable or non-shareable data and practices.