BACKGROUND

State departments of transportation (DOTs) are being asked to account for climate change in hydrologic and hydraulic (H&H) design practices. Current H&H design procedures stipulate the use of historical data assumed to represent a stationary process. Climate change introduces non-stationary risks such as rise in sea level, rise in temperature, and changes in the timing and distribution of precipitation, snowpack, and snowmelt. Failure to account for such non-stationary risks may compromise the operational characteristics of existing and future transportation infrastructure.

NCHRP Project 15-61, "Applying Climate Change Information to Hydrologic and Hydraulic Design of Transportation Infrastructure," delivered a document titled "Applying Climate Change Information to Hydrologic and Coastal Design of Transportation Infrastructure: Design Practices."

Additionally, NCHRP Project 20-44(23) conducted pilot tests with state DOTs to determine the effectiveness and ease of implementation of the guidelines developed under NCHRP Project 15-61.

Research is needed to incorporate additional climate science information into inland and coastal H&H design of transportation infrastructure.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this research is to develop a guide for state DOTs and practitioners to use when applying climate science information to inland and coastal H&H design of transportation infrastructure. The guide must be based on defensible climate science and methods, and be focused on engineering practices.

STATUS: Research in progress.