ASSESSING THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE

Abstract

There is an increasing evidence that the earth’s climate is changing with some of the changes
attributable to transport infrastructure. Climate change can have impacts on road infrastructure. The direct
impacts can be due to the effects of environment. Temperature can affect the aging of bitumen resulting in an
increase in brittle failure of the surface seals that represent more than 90% of the rural sealed roads in
Australia. Further, rainfall changes can alter moisture balances and influence pavement deterioration. Brittle
failure of the bitumen causes the surface to crack, with a consequent loss of waterproofing of the surface seal.
The result is that surface water will enter the pavement causing potholing and will cause rapid loss of surface
condition. More frequent reseal treatments will overcome the problem, but this is at a higher cost to road
agencies. Road infrastructure is a long-lived investment. An understanding of the expected impacts of future
climate change by road designers, asset managers and planners, could produce considerable cost savings in
the long term. This research aims to provide an assessment of likely effects on climate change for South East
Queensland region in the next 90 years, and further identify and assess the likely effects of climate change on
road pavement. It can be concluded that, climate change in South East Queensland does play a role in lower
deterioration rates. The findings suggest that decreasing rainfall (decreasing TMI) will slow flexible
pavement deterioration. However, increases in temperature are likely to cause materials to expand to affect
pavement deterioration rates.