Abstract Manager

This presentation is Part II from the presentation on this same topic at the TAC Conference in Ottawa in 2023. Part I in Ottawa focused on a Pilot Project, wherein a climate risk assessment focused on Chapter 4 and 3.5 of the TAC Geometric Design Guide (GDG). This Part II presentation for Vancouver in 2024 will roll out the conclusions of the climate risk assessment on the remaining Chapters 1-11 of the TAC GDG.

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 1-11. 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.

The climate risk assessment was completed with the Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC) High Level Screening Guide (HLSG). The PIEVC HLSG is a climate risk assessment process to identify risks from climate change and enable the development of adaptation solutions to mitigate the risks. The 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 tool to find vulnerabilities and risks to climate change in the TAC GDG.

The Pilot project using the PIEVC HLSG was presented at the TAC Conference in 2023, and focused on Chapter 4 (Cross Section Elements) and Section 3.5 (Cross Slope from Chapter 3 Alignment and Lane Configuration). The methodology and results of the climate risk assessment on the remaining Chapters 1-11 will be the basis of this conference presentation in Vancouver 2024 and conclude with the next steps for adaptation of the TAC GDG.