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Climate Vulnerability Assessment
The San Joaquin Council of Governments (SJCOG) Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Study is a yearlong effort, launched in March of 2019, to consider how to improve the resiliency and increase the reliability of the transportation system in the face of climate impacts.
Recognizing that climate hazards may cause far-reaching impacts to the communities, economy, and environment of San Joaquin County, SJCOG undertook a study to assess climate impacts. The purpose of this study is to examine how climate will impact a highly networked component of the county’s infrastructure—the transportation system. This study considers existing climate impact planning efforts in order to identify where additional adaptation planning and actions are needed. Given SJCOG’s responsibility for producing the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) for the region every four years, the study team also looked for opportunities to further integrate resiliency into transportation project prioritization and design.
Flooding (riverine, extreme precipitation, sea level rise) | Extreme temperature | Wildfire | Drought | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Roads | Asphalt stripping, washouts, subbase erosion, route closures, delays | Asphalt-concrete cracking | Rutting/softening, closures, need for safe evacuation routes | Shrinking of ground below asphalt can cause pavement to crack |
Rail | Substructure erosion, inundation, forced delays | Track buckling, forced slower speeds and delays, derailments | Blocked routes, forced delays | Runoff, leaching, slope instability, decreased load bearing capacity, reduced track visibility and stability |
Buses | Delays and route changes | Transit vehicles overheating, decreased comfort for passengers | Route closures, delays | - |
Airports | Damage to runways, delays | Flight delays > planes cannot take off in extreme heat | Damage to infrastructure, delays due to poor visibility and worker safety concerns | Stress on water supply for cooling towers, irrigation, and pavement power washing |
Port | Flooding of electrical equipment and bottom of cranes | Deterioration of pavement for storage cargo | Worker safety concerns | Challenges accessing fixed docks with water level fluctuation |
The vulnerability assessment focused on various components of the transportation system:
- Bus routes
- Access points for transportation-disadvantaged, rural populations
- Access to transit for transportation-disadvantaged, urban populations
- Evacuation routes operating at low level of service, identified by the Regional Congestion Management Plan Monitoring Report as having traffic level of service (LOS) rating of “deficient”
View the full Climate Vulnerability Assessment [PDF] report.