Climate Vulnerability and Economic Assessment for At-Risk Transportation Infrastructure in the Lake Champlain Basin, New York

Abstract

The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), in partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), wrote this report in fulfillment of a grant from the Federal Highway Administration\u2019s (FHWA) Climate Change Resilience Pilot Program. The purpose of the program was to pilot approaches to conduct climate change and extreme vulnerability assessments of transportation infrastructure and to analyze options for adapting and improving resilience. NYSDOT and TNC developed tools and approaches to assess vulnerability primarily focused on one asset \u2013 culverts. They evaluated vulnerability, criticality and risk, and developed a method to apply an environmental importance score to each culvert. Finally, they developed a benefits valuation approach to help decision makers prioritize infrastructure and assess when to undertake culvert replacements considering social, economic, and environmental factors