Identifying Surface Transportation Vulnerabilities and Risk Assessment Opportunities under Climate Change : a Portland , Oregon Case Study

Transportation departments are beginning to recognize that adaptation for climate change must become an integral part of their planning efforts. However, staff members frequently lack adequate local data, training, or guidance to begin adaptation planning assessments. As a result, climate change adaptation planning has remained generally abstract and lacks specificity needed to identify potential system vulnerabilities, assess risk and prioritize responses. In this report, we outline a geographic information system-based method for transportation departments to assess climate change vulnerabilities in their multi-modal surface transportation systems. The City of Portland, Oregon, is used as an illustrative case study. The proposed method allows for preliminary vulnerability identification, prioritization, and impact assessment and can also used as a basis for more advanced analysis and scenario testing. This research also identifies and describes data gaps and other barriers to climate change adaptation planning for surface transportation.