pacific nw transportation consortium region 10 Pactrans

Melting ice and warming oceans are transforming coastlines, societies, and natural resources around the world. To meet this unprecedented challenge and to help produce an adaptation strategy, the Center for Environmental Studies at Florida Atlantic University convened its third Sea-Level Rise Summit in Fort Lauderdale on May 3-5, 2016. PacTrans associate director and representative to the University of Alaska, Billy Connor, travelled to Fort Lauderdale to speak at the event. This three day event brought together private sector sustainability and climate change professionals, public policy decision-makers and implementation managers, and researchers informing public policy and private adaptation efforts for a series lectures, breakout sessions, exhibits, and poster presentations.

This year’s theme was Connected Futures from Alaska to Florida, which recognized that our task demands unconventional thinking. The sub-tropics and the Arctic are rarely discussed together. But comparing their shared experiences unlocked new insights valuable to stakeholders in both regions. Program highlights included interactive sessions identifying sea-level rise challenges and opportunities in the areas of: infrastructure, society & economy, public health, responses & indicators, and architecture/redesign; as well as sessions on compilation of best practice sea-level rise adaptation strategies and examination of sea-level rise science projections for the region.

Connor, part of the Alaska contingent of the summit, was there to present his work on Climate Change and Transportation from the perspective of engineers. He spoke about the challenges facing our transportation systems as climate change reaches more advanced stages. Connor made several overarching suggestions such as: designing for a wider range of climates, planning for extreme events, budget for things like greater snow and ice control (snow removal, etc.), and more care in monitoring critical structures such as hospitals and schools. With PacTrans’ topic focus of safety, Connor and his work on climate change and our transportation system will continue to become more and more vital.