Climate Change Adaptation for Transportation Systems: Chapter 1 - Introduction

This chapter provides a general introduction to climate change adaptation for transportation systems. It defines what is meant by adaptation for the purposes of the manager of a transportation system and introduces three major themes for climate change adaptation in transportation. These themes are (1) the options for changing practice, not merely refining or improving current practice; (2) risk management and the development of adaptation frameworks and pathways, with appropriate decision support tools, and (3) in terms of the natural phenomena affecting transportation systems and themselves affected by climate change, the central role of water, in its many guises, in the degradation and limitation of the performance of transportation facilities, assets and systems. This chapter provides a set of guiding principles for the planning and implementation of adaptation programs.