Over 70% of goods are carried by road, and the road transport infrastructure is facing many changes it will have to adapt to. One of the biggest is climate change. Without active mitigation, climate change will induce over 100% more expenses in road maintenance. The road infrastructure is affected in the following ways:
- Changes in temperature, which impact road pavements (heat-induced heaving, buckling of joints)
- Changes in precipitation (impact on road foundations)
- Extreme weather events, such as storms with very fast water flows
- Increased wind loads (impact on long-span bridges)
- Increased storm surges (impact on all coastal components of road infrastructure)
- Increased salinity (reduced structural strength of pavements, rusting of reinforcement in concrete structures)
There are several methods to improve road design and mitigate the effects: low embankment roads in flood plains, road crossings (drifts) that store groundwater upstream, roadside tree planting, flood water spreaders, roadside farm trenches, water spreaders from culverts for supplemental irrigation, water storage ponds, infiltration trenches for groundwater recharge, rolling dips on unpaved roads, and improved surface materials and designs in general.
A complete network-level vulnerability assessment, with the mitigation works integrated into the Road Asset Management System, is the solution for a climate-resilient road network. SirWay Ltd. developed the adaptive capacity of the National Road Administration (ANE) of Mozambique to integrate climate change into the planning and design of road transport infrastructure, and increased the government’s capacity to plan for a climate-resilient road transport sector.
