SPR-696: Preliminary Study of Climate Adaptation for the Statewide ...

CONDUCT AN ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT OF ADOT BUSINESS PRACTICES ANDACTIVITIES ALIGNED WITH CLIMATE ADAPTATION PLANNINGFinding ways to adapt to a changing climate is an interdisciplinary effort; it requires the technicaland social support of a variety of actors within ADOT and external to the agency. Several effortshave showcased activity that pertains to a larger umbrella of sustainability.Many staff members are unaware of employees in other departments or districts who are workingon similar issues. This set of focus groups began to uncover some of these efforts, including theArizona Disaster Recovery Framework for dealing with emergency events; FIS, where assets arecollected and logged through a common database and could be mapped using GIS; and theefforts the budget office is studying to correlate weather events with the maintenance budget, aswell as other projects, such as the solar highway initiative and the environmental policiesinitiative. Creating a forum for sharing these ideas, whether through a workshop, an onlineforum, or even an electronic social network, could build momentum and encouragement topursue projects that may be stuck in organizational “silos.”SEEK NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR FUNDINGOne of the major findings of this research was the strong interest to connect climate adaptation toeconomic value. There always is a shortage of funding within state DOTs. In the longer-termhorizon, the purpose of a climate adaptation plan is to examine current planning, design, andoperations practices to determine what strategies could be employed that are low cost and highreward. In the short run, there is a need to look for funding through various channels to continueinternal efforts for climate adaptation planning.For instance, the Office of Federal Lands Highway and the FHWA associate administrators forthe offices of Infrastructure and of Planning, Environment, and Real Estate recently clarified thatfederal aid and Office of Federal Lands Highway funding may be used for climate changeadaptation work. The memorandum notes that creating a more resilient transportation system is apriority for the FHWA, and provides some examples of eligible uses of federal aid and FederalLands Highway funds to consider the potential impacts of climate change and extreme weatherevents, and apply adaptation strategies.As this area evolves, federal funding through various channels may emerge. ADOT will have tobe aware of the possibilities that will arise through planning, research, and disaster relief(FEMA) resources.PURSUE AN FHWA CLIMATE ADAPTATION PILOTADOT should respond to the request for solicitations the FHWA has released in November 2012for a new round of project funding for climate adaptation pilot projects. In 2010, the FHWAfunded five DOTs and MPOs to pilot a conceptual model to use in conducting vulnerability andrisk assessments of infrastructure to the project impacts of global climate change. Projects fromthe following agencies were selected and completed by November 2011:53