The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation recently signed a five-year collaborative agreement to improve access and delivery of climate information, technical assistance, and workforce training.
“There is an urgent need to make our transportation infrastructure more resilient to the impacts of climate change and extreme weather now and in the future,” Dr. Rick Spinrad, NOAA administrator, said. “Investing in resilience, through partnerships like this one with DOT, will undoubtedly result in improved safety and savings over time through lower costs and reduced disruption to travel and supply-chains.”
The agencies agree to deliver climate data and visualization tools tailored to the unique needs of policymakers, transportation engineers and planners; incorporate nonstationary methods and climate model projections into the generation of authoritative precipitation frequency data; develop strategies to evaluate resilience of transportation projects; enhance partnerships between transportation stakeholders; and enhance and expand technical assistance and partnerships on nature-based solutions.
In addition, the agencies will deliver educational products for transportation agency employees and transportation stakeholders, and use national conferences to share information and progress in policy and regulatory discussions among transportation sector representatives.
NOAA will support Transportation Department’s efforts to integrate into transportation grants decisions climate change and emission reduction considerations.