Extreme weather and climate change can have a significant impact on all types of infrastructure and assets, regardless of location, with the potential for human casualties, physical damage to assets, disruption of operations, economic and community distress, and environmental degradation. This paper describes a methodology for using extreme weather and climate data to identify climate-related risks and to quantify the potential impact of extreme weather events on certain types of transportation infrastructure as part of a vulnerability screening assessment. This screening assessment can be especially useful when a large number of assets or large geographical areas are being studied, with the results enabling planners and asset managers to undertake a more detailed assessment of vulnerability on a more targeted number of assets or locations. The methodology combines climate, weather, and impact data to identify vulnerabilities to a range of weather and climate related risks over a multi-decadal planning period. The paper applies the methodology to perform an extreme weather and climate change vulnerability screening assessment on transportation infrastructure assets for the State of Tennessee. This paper represents the results of one of the first efforts at spatial vulnerability assessments of transportation infrastructure and provides important insights for any organization considering the impact of climate and weather events on transportation or other critical infrastructure systems.

Global climate change presents both acute and long-term risks to humanity. Managed retreat has emerged in the literature as one method by which to manage some acute and slow-onset events caused by climate change, but it requires substantial additional research and examination. It is now clear that humanity must scrutinize how and where we live and the wisdom of policies that support continued rebuilding and reinvestment after climate-related disasters. Despite its emergence as a potential policy response to risk, the phrase “managed retreat” is documented as a barrier in itself to successful adaptation actions, largely because the term is currently almost exclusively considered to mean physical movement of infrastructure or people out of harm’s way—that is, retreat. There is a need to document and consider case studies where managed retreat is being utilized more broadly and to consider these case studies as a climate governance approach to managing risk. The case studies presented of local policy responses to climate-induced disaster events demonstrate examples of the permanent changes that are already occurring to the existing and historical governance of climate-related risks. These case studies can serve to broaden the climate adaptation discussion and framework beyond “managed retreat” and may lead to more successful implementation of adaptation measures that reduce climate risks. We adopt the term “transformative adaptation measures,” rather than “managed retreat,” and provide case study illustrations of climate governance strategies that communities faced with a changing climate risk profile may consider, rather than focusing on “retreat.”

Recent advances in technologies associated with hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have provided access to vast reserves of oil and gas that were previously uneconomical to produce, and in areas without a history of concentrated drilling activity. Townships and counties without sufficient financial resources have faced new challenges to maintain transportation infrastructure despite unprecedented volumes of heavy truck traffic on aging roads not designed for such use. Many studies have evaluated the impact of oil and gas development on roads, but small, local communities—where road impacts are felt the most—do not have the resources to utilize much of this information or conduct the necessary advanced data-gathering and analysis. Using the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) oil play in Mississippi as a case study, this paper presents a methodology for local planners to identify at-risk infrastructure. By using data obtainable by local planners, we demonstrate how to identify routes likely to be impacted and how to obtain and use data on water volume use, which correlates directly to road impacts and has been underutilized as a component for future planning. This paper also fills a gap by including operator perspectives on local approaches to addressing road impacts. Keywords: hydraulic fracturing; road impacts; rural economic development; FracFocus; operator perspectives; Mississippi ___________________________________________ Évaluation des Impacts de l'Extraction de Gaz et de Pétrole sur les Infrastructures de Transport dans les Communités Rurales: Une Étude de Cas de la Zone Pétrolière de Schiste Marin de Tuscaloosa au Mississipi Résumé Les progrès récents en technologie associés à la fracturation hydraulique et le forage horizontal ont donné accès à de vastes réserves de pétrole et de gaz qui n'étaient auparavant pas rentables à produire, ceci dans des régions sans historique d'activité de forage intensif. Les communes et les comtés sans ressources financières suffisantes ont fait face à de nouveaux défis pour maintenir les infrastructures de transport malgré les volumes sans précédent de trafic de camions lourds sur les vieilles routes non conçues pour cet usage. De nombreuses études ont évalué l'impact du développement du pétrole et du gaz sur les routes, mais les petites communautés locales— où les impacts sur les routes sont les plus ressentis—n'ont pas les ressources pour utiliser la plupart de ces informations ou mener les collectes de données et les analyses évoluées nécessaires. En utilisant la zone pétrolière de Schiste Marin de Tuscaloosa (TMS en anglais) au Mississipi, comme étude de cas, cet article présente une méthodologie pour les planificateurs locaux afin d'identifier les risques d'infrastructure. En utilisant les données accessibles par les planificateurs locaux, nous démontrons comment identifier les routes qui seront probablement les plus touchées et comment obtenir et utiliser des données sur l'utilisation du volume d'eau, qui est directement reliée aux impacts de la route et qui a été sous-utilisée comme composante dans les planifications futures. Cet article comble aussi une lacune en incluant des perspectives d'opérateurs sur des approches locales pour remédier aux impacts de la route.