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

Table 10. Question 5B Responses (Continued)ResponsesTransit helps to mitigate the effects of these impacts to the community. As emergency events increase, there is anincreased demand on transit to help support the communities. They help evacuate communities and provide shelterwhen an emergency strikes on the road. The drivers are trained to deal with emergencies. Anything that impactsthe roadways also impact the transit programs. Transit agencies frequently adjust and find safe alternatives incoordination with emergency management to events. We train our drivers to deal with emergencies and we trainour managers to coordinate with safety and security personnel. In addition, increased transit use equates todecreased air pollutions and decreased congestion helping to mitigate these problems while moving peopleefficiently.Examining culverts and all other drainage features of the roadway is a large focus of my job. A change in water flowone way or another will change the way I assess these assets.As my job requires that I verify ADOT’s compliance with environmental regulations and commitments, any elementwhich increases the potential for and severity of environmental impact will impact how I proceed with my basic jobduties.The relevant factors listed in Question number 5 not only impact the end product quality in construction, but also thehealth risks involved with Roadway construction. Long-term exposure to heat and bad air cause fatigue, nausea,and heat stroke.Most of the relevant answers will impact the quality of stormwater that is running off of our roadways and rights-ofway.The warmer the climate the more wildlife will search for cooler climate. Slides and such will impact my travel byclosing roads I must work on. I core roadways and dig test pits alongside existing roads. If the heat continues to risenot only will the surface temps affect my work, it will adversely affect me.We are in Construction – what we do is roads, bridges, asphalt paving, repairing and maintaining safe drivableroads and traffic situations- IE all relevant to our work.Long and short range planning for wildlife mitigation and infrastructure improvements has a definite potential to beimpacted by climate change. This also applies to vegetation management. Both development and maintenance ofnative vegetation along our roadsides will be modified by climate change in significant ways. The introduction ofinvasive species is also an issue that will likely be modified by climate change.“F” Beside what’s listed above, we deal with many more potholes, for one example.Climate effects everyone’s job no matter what position a person holds in the work force. Driving to and from work isaffected. Driving to lunch, doctor appointments, babysitter, etc. I am really not sure where you are going with thisclimate change issue.as described..I believe that things may be getting warmer for the intermediate term, but that a cooling trend is on the way. Weneed to plan for both but be flexible in our investments: don’t sell all the snow plows, we will need them again.Working in the pavement design area relevant responses will effect work load and design requirements. Otherpotential impacts would include placement dates for certain asphalt products(ACFC’s,chip seals).From dry summer heat pavement asphalt, we are getting lots of rubber tire tread coming off and littering roadways.When we do environmental planning we look a a huge variety of issues and try to mitigate the effects of ourprojects. We need to understand the total environment we operate in and how this applies to the size of culverts,the length of the snowplowing and de-icing season, the impacts to wildlife and their habitat, the amount of debrislikely to flow into our stormwater channels and detention basins, and the construction windows that may bemodified by changing patterns of cold or hot seasons.While these do not have a DIRECT effect on my position or the work I perform, any time the environment changessignificantly, it affects performance and effectiveness of staff. Simply deciding to drive to work or take transit; costsrelated to driving; temperature within the building; need to remain indoors during smoke-filled days – these all affectperformance and increase health risks which affect efficiency.so good!A survey based on the hypothesis, “There is a near consensus in the scientific community that the global climate ischanging” will provide insights about people’s perception about climate changes, but the results of an unprovenhypothesis should only be used for social studies, not engineering decisions. I’m disappointed that the ADOT TRBis dabbling in social perceptions. If you are running out of things to do, why not update the approved product list thathas been neglected for years. I am not ignoring climate changing data. I believe that the change is cyclical and notan out of control phenomena. Paul R. DavidAny sort of project delays that result from weather issues not only prolong the construction process (and thus theinconvenience to the traveling public) but may also result in having to back up and repair something that hasalready been constructed. Depending on the type of event that caused the delay, there could be a significantfinancial burden then placed on the project or the contractor to complete repairs.Desertification of reservation lands and resulting increase in incidence of dust storms along I-40 and other ADOThighways.82