Climate Change and Implications to Civil Engineering Infrastructure Projects

This article discusses the implications of climate change on civil engineering infrastructure projects, including functionality, safety, repair and maintenance costs, durability, and reliability. It emphasizes the need to consider climate change throughout the lifecycle of these projects to increase their adaptability and resilience. The article also highlights the effects of climate change on rail transport and the specific implications for the Melbourne Airport Rail Link project.

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CLIMATE CHANGE AND IMPLICATIONS TO CIVIL ENGINEERING
INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
Name
Course
Professor
University
City/state
Date

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Climate Change and implications to Civil Engineering Infrastructure Projects
Question 1
It will be necessary to consider climate change in planning, designing, constructing and
maintaining civil infrastructure systems and projects in Australia mainly because these civil
infrastructure systems are greatly affected by climate change. This phenomenon can cause a wide
range of environmental conditions and their related damages (Bonelli, et al., 2014), thus putting
infrastructure systems at risk of failure or collapse. The various aspects of civil infrastructure
systems that are affected by climate change include functionality, safety, repair and maintenance
costs, durability and reliability. Considering climate change throughout the lifecycle of civil
infrastructure systems will make these systems to be more adaptable to the effects of climate
change thus helping in preventing their untimely damage and increasing longevity because it
means that the systems will have been planned, designed and built using components,
mechanisms and materials that are resilient to climate change effects. For instance, if climate
change is considered in the various lifecycle processes of infrastructure systems, these systems
will be able to withstand extreme weather conditions caused by climate change such as
catastrophic heat waves, bushfires, storms and floods (Flyen, et al., 2018). For example, physical
infrastructure estimated to be about $2 billion was damaged by the devastating 2010 Pakistan
floods, whereas Hurricane Sandy in 2012 damaged infrastructure estimated to be $1.13 billion in
New York City (Shepherd, 2016). These damages could have been prevented or reduced
significantly if climate change had been incorporated in the planning, design construction and
maintenance of the affected infrastructure systems.
In general, climate change is a phenomenon with devastating effects on the built
environment. Climate change effects can damage infrastructure worth billions of dollars within

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minutes (Kirsch, et al., 2012). Incorporating climate change in the planning, design, building and
maintenance of infrastructure systems and projects will prevent or minimize the risks associated
with climate change thus increasing the functionality, safety, durability and reliability of
infrastructure systems and reducing their maintenance costs. Therefore climate change should be
considered at all stages of civil infrastructure systems and project. This will help in developing
climate change-resilience infrastructure systems.
Question 2
Climate change refers to significant or irregular long-term changes to average weather
patterns of a region. This phenomenon is mainly caused by humans and it has devastating effects
on human life, biodiversity and the environment. Some of the vital evidences of climate change
include: global temperature rise, warming oceans, shrinking icebergs, glacial retreat, reduced
snow cover, sea level rise, decreasing arctic sea ice, extreme events (such as prolonged and
extreme droughts, intense rainfall, increased wildfires, etc.), and ocean acidification, among
others (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2019). Climate change has become one
of the major global problems that are threatening the lives of present and future generations.
Increased high temperatures, prolonged droughts and irregular rainfall patterns are some of the
effects of climate change that are being witnessed in different parts of the world and affecting
people’s lives directly. For instance, these effects have significantly reduced agricultural
production thus exposing people to famine. Besides natural systems, climate change also has
devastating effects on the built environment thus making it a very crucial aspect for engineers to
consider when designing and building infrastructure systems and other engineering structures. In
2018, Australia experienced the worst drought in its history, with temperature rising up to 47°C.
Heat waves have become more common, longer lasting and more severe in the country. Rain

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patterns are expected to continue changing and heat to continue rising, wildfires and bushfires
are now common and extreme, agriculture and livestock production is on the decline, and the
Great Barrier Reef is dying slowly (The Climate Reality Project, 2019). All these are evidence
that Australia is already being affected by climate change and there is need for everybody to take
action so as to reverse these effects.
Question 3
Rail transport is very sensitive to weather events and climate change in general. Some of the
weather events that can disrupt construction and operation activities of railways and compromise
the safety of rail transport include: storms, floods, snowfall, rising sea levels, thunder, violent
winds, freezing and heat waves, among others. The various climate change implications to
consider at different stages of the Melbourne Airport Rail Link transport infrastructure project
are as follows:
i) Planning stage
Prolonged planning and design period: because of potential climate change risks,
planning and design processes will take a lot of time. This is because adequate time is required to
consult different stakeholders and develop spatial planning frameworks and designs to ensure
that the rail is redirected away and protected from high-risk areas (Mullan, 2018).
Complex planning and design processes: climate change risks will require a lot of
research and feasibility studies to be conducted so as to determine the possible climate change
risks and vulnerabilities and establish appropriate strategies of preventing or reducing them. This
will make the planning and design processes to be more complex.

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Increased planning and design costs: the prolonged planning and design processes and the
complexity of these processes will increase the cost of planning and designing the project.
ii) Construction stage
Delayed completion: climate change can cause delays in delivery of materials or
interruption of construction activities thus elongating the project delivery period.
Increased construction costs: climate change can increase the cost of construction through
delays, destruction of completed sections and also inclusion of components or systems for
protecting the railway against climate change risks.
Safety risks and compromised quality: climate change also increases the likelihood of
accidents occurring on sites during construction, which can lead to injuries and fatalities. The
phenomenon can also reduce the quality of structures built especially when site conditions, such
as extreme temperatures or frequent rains become agonizing.
iii) Operation stage
Service disruption: this can be caused by weather events such as snowfall, floods, high
speed winds or storms, which can result to rail traffic congestion and delays. The weather events
also increases chances of accidents because they make it difficult to control the trains (SYKE,
(n.d.)).
Damage of the rail infrastructure system: increased likelihood and severity of extreme
weather events accelerates wear and tear of railways and their associated equipment. For
instance, storms and floods can wash away the railway and its equipment, or destabilize the
ground on which the rail tracks are constructed; increased rainfall can raise groundwater and

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water levels thus destabilizing railway infrastructure and increasing damage risk; and extreme
temperature can cause rail buckling and track expansion (Chinowsky, et al., 2019). All these
damages also compromises the quality, safety, durability and reliability of the railway
infrastructure.
Increased repair and maintenance costs: climate change has increased the likelihood of
extreme weather events. These events increase the vulnerability of railway infrastructure to
damages such as wear and tear or destruction. In case of any of these damages, the cost of
maintaining the railway infrastructure will increase. For example, if the railway infrastructure
system gets carried away by a sandstorm, it will cost the government a lot of money to repair and
replace the system.
References

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Bonelli, S., Vicuna, S., Meza, F. J. & Gironas, J., 2014. Incorporating climate change adaptation strategies
in urban water supply planning: The case of central Chile. Journal of Water and Climate Change, 5(3), pp.
357-376.
Chinowsky, P., Helman, J., Gulati, S., Neumann, J. & Martinich, J., 2019. Impacts of climate change on
operation of the US rail network. Transport Policy, 75(1), pp. 183-191.
Flyen, C., Hauge, A. L., Almas, A.-J. & Godbolt, A. L., 2018. Municipal collaborative planning boosting
climate resilience in the built environment. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built
Environment, 9(1), pp. 58-69.
Kirsch, T.D., Wadhwani, C., Sauer, L., Doocy, S. & Catlett, C., 2012. Impact of the 2010 Pakistan Floods on
Rural and Urban Populations at Six Months. PLoS Currents, 4(1), pp. 1-6.
Mullan, M., 2018. Climate resilient infrastructure, Paris: OECD Publishing.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2019. Climate change: How do we know?. [Online]
Available at: https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
Shepherd, C., 2016. How to protect infrastructure from a changing climate. [Online]
Available at: http://blogs.worldbank.org/ppps/how-protect-infrastructure-changing-climate
SYKE, (n.d.). Climate change has both positive and negative implications on rail transport. [Online]
Available at: https://ilmasto-opas.fi/en/ilmastonmuutos/vaikutukset/-/artikkeli/ae2068f4-7cd3-49bd-
8f6f-1e1c83eb35e2/raideliikenne.html
The Climate Reality Project, 2019. How is climate change affecting Australia?. [Online]
Available at: https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/how-climate-change-affecting-australia