Image credit: Delaware Department of Transportation (2017) via GAO
With all eyes on infrastructure, one government agency has its sights set on boosting roadway climate resilience.
On Wednesday, September 22, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report detailing findings from a study on improving the climate resiliency of U.S. roads. The 79-page report, titled "Climate Resilience: Options to Enhance the Resilience of Federally Funded Roads and Reduce Fiscal Exposure," identifies 10 options for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to make American roads better-equipped to handle the stresses of climate change.
The list includes options ranging from establishing climate resilience funding eligibility requirements for grant programs to updating design standards and building codes to be more climate-resilient. GAO recommends Congress direct the FHWA to implement one or more of these options.
By doing so, GAO hopes to save lives and money from future natural disasters supercharged by the climate crisis. For example, roads vulnerable to flooding could spell disaster for citizens evacuating the path of a hurricane. The same less-resilient roads would also be more expensive to repair in a storm's aftermath.
Improving the nation's infrastructure has been of chief concern in recent years. President Trump campaigned on a $1 trillion infrastructure plan in 2016, and President Biden has spent the majority of his first year in the Oval Office working to pass a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. This legislation has taken on increased urgency in recent months following a summer of record-setting temperatures around the country, catastrophic wildfires in the West, and an already destructive hurricane season in the Gulf Coast.
You can read the full GAO report here.