TITLE:
Climate Change and Urban Transport Sustainability
AUTHORS:
Ardeshir Faghri
KEYWORDS:
Climate Change, Urban Sustainability, Non-Motorized, Transportation, Sea-Level Rise, Geographic Information System, Complete Streets
JOURNAL NAME:
Current Urban Studies,
Vol.11 No.1,
March
1,
2023
ABSTRACT: The 2022 Sea Level Rise Technical Document,
published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
reports sea level along the US coastline is projected to rise, on average, 10 -
12 inches (0.25 - 0.30 meters) in the next
30 years (2020-2050) (NOAA, 2022). This will create coastal flooding by causing tide and storm surge
heights to increase and reach further inland. By 2050, “moderate” (typically
damaging) flooding is expected to occur, on average, more than 10 times as
often as it does today, and can be intensified by local factors. About 2 feet
(0.6 meters) of sea level rise along the US coastline is increasingly likely between 2020 and 2100 because of emissions to date.
Failing to curb future emissions could cause an additional 1.5 - 5 feet (0.5 -
1.5 meters) of rise for a total of 3.5 - 7 feet (1.1 - 2.1 meters) by the end
of this century. At the same time, cities are experiencing rapid
urbanization and population growth with increasing levels of private motorized vehicle
ownership and use, a major source of emissions. Non-motorized transport is
considered one of the important mitigation strategies to reduce the amount of
greenhouse gas emissions and make urbanized communities sustainable. This paper
examines the impacts of sea level rise on non-motorized transportation
facilities along the coastlines of the State of Delaware using Geographic Information System (GIS) supported by the latest
data and models. Results show there is significant damage in the number
of facilities if sea level rises between 2 and 6 feet. As sea level rise
projection gets higher, the number of facilities with major inundation increases.
So the question becomes with trails and bikeways disappearing along the
coastlines, is there enough space to bring these sites to the cities that are further inland, noting that vehicle use is
at an all-time high, and, there are
grass roots movements everywhere
asking decision-makers, engineers and planners for more non-motorized
transport facilities? This paper also examines the challenging policy,
engineering and planning implications of creating non-motorized transport sites
and capacities in cities with shrinking available land and space for such
facilities.