Transport Infrastructure for a Sustainable Future

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An aerial view Of Hatirjheel Lake Bridge in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Photo by Salman Preeom/Unsplash

A healthy transportation network is the lifeline of any country or city. While the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP-27) participants did not discuss resilient transport infrastructure as much as other priorities, I see a lot of researchers in my field across the world are looking at new ways to prepare transport infrastructures against the risks and impacts of climate change.

My research, in particular, looks at the central theme of innovative and resilient transportation infrastructure systems. I try to understand how cutting-edge technologies and advanced computational techniques can be used to support transport infrastructure and networks against various hazard conditions like climate change.

In this article, I look at how we can prepare transport infrastructure for a sustainable future. A resilient transport network, in plain terms, is expected to give people the confidence to move in and out of areas without worrying about damage to infrastructure or service disruptions from climate stressors and shocks.

We need to come up with plans not only to develop new infrastructure that will be climate-resilient, but also to consider how to adapt existing infrastructure.

First of all, transport infrastructure faces multiple threats like aging, deterioration, and increased use as the population grows. These existing threats, which already have some sort of design and policy in place for maintenance and remedy, are being coupled with the natural hazards conveyed by climate change.

We need to come up with plans not only to develop new infrastructure that will be climate-resilient but also to consider how to adapt existing infrastructure. Bridges, for example, already take into account climate change impacts in their durability aspect, but designers may only be taking into account the impacts of our ‘current’ climate.

This view needs to change – the results and findings we use today may not be relevant in the next 30 years! Bridges today are typically designed to have a service life of 80 to 100 years, so we need to keep implementing proper planning, design, and policies that focus on developing resilient bridges in a changing climate to avoid failure from “surprise events” under unprecedented climate change. We also need to examine how current and traditional materials in existing infrastructure have performed over the last decades.

A flooded road on Sylhet-Sunamgunj Highway near Sylhet, Bangladesh. Photo by Anish Joshi/ADPC

In the Asian context, populations are growing fast and more people are living in vulnerable areas where climate change is taking place at an unprecedented rate. In South Asian countries like Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, for example, we have seen several climate-induced incidents that have washed away roads and bridges – cutting off access to vital food supplies and emergency facilities.

To improve the climate change resiliency of transportation infrastructure in South Asia, all stakeholders and partners need to work together to identify the specific and significant threats that can jeopardize development gains. This process should be inclusive and needs broader consultation to create a sense of shared ownership and joint vision – both from the transport user perspective and the infrastructure development perspective – to build resilience.

I know there have been a lot of efforts put in by South Asian agencies in the region so far to develop climate resiliency, but more needs to be done because the effects of climate change will continue to grow. If we don’t take sufficient action in the next few years, it may result in significant economic impacts and continue to influence the quality of life of many people. A local transport interruption today because of climate change can severely impact regional transportation systems and ultimately disrupt the overall road network. Access to services and development will be at serious risk!

How we achieve transport resilience remains an open-ended question, because it’s not only about in terms of adopting new design guidelines. It’s also about improving our research and perspectives on constantly changing climate patterns, its effects on new and existing construction materials, and taking radical, inclusive steps to increase the resilience and sustainability of our critical infrastructure.

Dr. Muntasir Billah, P.Eng., M.ASCE, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Calgary, Canada.

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homolata

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Preparing Transport Infrastructure for a Sustainable Future

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homolata

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