Abstract Manager

This presentation will summarize the work completed by the TAC Geometric Design Committee (GDC) Adaptation to Climate Change Working Group (ACCWG) with respect to conducting a climate risk assessment for the TAC Geometric Design Guide (GDG) Chapters 4 and 3.5. The vision for the ACCWG is to adapt the TAC Geometric Design Guide and provide practitioners with national guidance to design and build safe road infrastructure resilient to the pressures of climate change. 

The first step toward adaptation of the TAC GDG is to identify risks from climate change with respect to safety and resilience. Adaptation to the TAC GDG cannot take place until the risks to climate change in current design guidelines are identified. Thereafter, risk mitigation and adaptation strategies can be implemented in the TAC GDG. 

To conduct the climate risk assessment a recent innovation was utilized namely, the Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC) High Level Screening Guide (HLSG). The PIEVC HLSG is a streamlined version of the PIEVC Protocol. Beginning in 2005, Engineers Canada took a leadership role to develop the Protocol. The PIEVC Protocol is a climate risk assessment process to identify risks from climate change and enable the development of adaptation solutions to mitigate the risks. The subsequent PIEVC HLSG is a purpose-built climate risk assessment tool, in the form of a spreadsheet, designed to find infrastructure vulnerabilities and risks to climate change. The ACCWG adapted the process to find vulnerabilities and risks to climate change in road design guidelines. 

The official release of the PIEVC HLSG (February 1, 2022) revealed a process and spreadsheet-tool that was manageable and practical to hold climate risk assessment workshops on-line. Accordingly, in September 2022 the ACCWG convened a series of on-line workshops utilizing the PIEVC HLSG. Serving as a Pilot Project, Chapter 4 Cross Section Elements was chosen to be the first chapter to undergo climate risk analysis. In addition, Section 3.5 Cross Slope from Chapter 3 Alignment and Lane Configuration was included in the analysis. The results of the climate risk assessment will be the basis of this presentation and conclude with the next steps for adaptation of the TAC GDG.