Download adaptation of road network to climate change

ADAPTATION OF ROAD
NETWORK TO CLIMATE
CHANGE
César Bartolomé
CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
• Floods
• Droughts
• Hurricanes
• Higher temperatures
• Increase of rainfall
Sonja Bruyninckx
CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
NATURAL DISASTERS RELATED TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Myanmar,
May 2nd, 2008
138.366 casualties
hurricane
China,
22 million people
th
April 17 , 2011
hurricane
affected
USA, hurricane August 29th, 2005
125.000 M€ cost
Germany, flood
UK, flood
August, 2002
December, 2015
8.000 M€ cost
2.000 M€ cost
Sonja Bruyninckx
WHAT ABOUT ROADS?
ROAD AFFECTION BY CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Extreme rainfall
or floods
Extreme
phenomena
Permanent
phenomena
Extreme winds
Droughts
Low
temperatures
Peak
temperatures
Increase in
average
temperature
Erosion of foundations, slope
instability, ground movement and
deterioration of pavements
High efforts on bridges
Low affection to roads
Road management (deicing salts) and
cracking of pavements
Softening and rutting of pavements
Higher intensity of freeze-thaw cycles
in the north of Europe
Sonja Bruyninckx
WHAT ABOUT ROADS?
•
Non-adapted roads:
 Disruptions: social and economic loss.
 Higher maintenance costs.
 Shorter service life.
•
Current requirements (sufficient) will become
more difficult to fulfill, mainly in the long term.
Sonja Bruyninckx
SOLUTIONS?
•
New design criteria:
 Return periods
 Drainage systems
 Wind loads on bridges
•
Use of materials that are less affected by climate
effects (concrete, stabilized soils, soil cement,
etc.)
Sonja Bruyninckx
STRATEGY
•
Making long-term thinking a mandatory
component in public tendering for road building.
•
Considering the resilience of the entire road
network in Member State adaptation plans as part
of the EU Adaptation Strategy.
•
Making available data for climate projections, so
that road authorities can base their decisions on
likely climate and weather scenarios for the
future.
Sonja Bruyninckx
WHAT ABOUT STANDARDS?
• “Standards are one of the most powerful tools
•
for adapting infrastructures to climate change”
(according to the Commission).
How should they be modified (if at all)?
HORIZONTAL
STANDARDS FOR
ROAD
CONSTRUCTION
Sufficiently
demanding
PRODUCT
STANDARDS
No specific
requirements
Sonja Bruyninckx
CURRENT SITUATION
• 2013, EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate
Change involving European Standardization
Organizations.
•
2014, CEN and CENELEC established the
Adaptation to Climate Change Coordination
Group (ACC-CG)
•
•
•
Buildings and construction (already held)
Transport infrastructure (today)
Energy infrastructure (to be held at the end of
the month)
Sonja Bruyninckx
CURRENT SITUATION
•
Resilience to climate change of roads depends on
technical committee CEN/TC 227 (WG5)
complemented by CEN/TC 350 (prEN 15643-5).
•
CEN/CENELEC has published Guide 32 for
addressing climate change adaptation in standards.
•
No standard on this field has been developed so far.
•
A CWA for sustainability indicators for roads
(climate change resilience included) was launched in
December.
Sonja Bruyninckx
•
CONCLUSIONS
Climate resilience of roads is related to the choice
of materials, but even more to the structure of the
pavement.
•
There is no need to modify the “material standards”.
•
The only standards that deal with the entire
structures or works are the ones of TC350.
•
A first step to integrate adaptation to climate change
can be taken in the CWA Workshop on
Sustainability Assessment of Roads.
Sonja Bruyninckx
THANKS FOR
YOUR
ATTENTION
Sonja Bruyninckx