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Climate Change Adaptation

Climate change impacts have implications for planning, constructing and maintaining the New Zealand state highway network.

Adapting through policy

In 2004, Transit published an Adaptation Position Paper, Climate Change Impacts on the State Highway Network: Transit New Zealand's Position, which outlined Transit's response to the potential impacts of climate change.

Transit concluded that, given the information currently available, asset management practice was adequate to manage climate change impacts for most of the network. Potential additional costs of climate change impacts to 2080 were difficult to calculate and it was considered inappropriate to take immediate wide scale action given the many uncertainties.

Transit considered that:

  • site-specific responses to climate change impacts were necessary; and
  • in some cases, alternative remedial actions to mitigate potential climate change impacts may be more appropriate.

However, Transit recognised that it would be prudent to consider climate change in the design of all major long-life new infrastructure such as bridges and culverts that could be affected by climate change, particularly where provision for future retrofitting is not feasible or cost-effective.

Transit amended its Bridge Manual to include climate change impacts as a design factor for consideration on a case-by-case basis. This is the most effective specific guidance for Transit staff given that impacts will vary from region to region.

Transit undertook to continue to monitor climate change data and developments to enable the Board to determine when to review Transit's response to climate change impacts.

The conference paper Climate Change Impacts on the State Highway Network: A Moving Target describes in more detail the two-staged decision process used to inform policy development.

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Adapting through design and construction

Transit staff are considering how best to build our policy position into planning and management activities.

Some new state highway projects are already considering the impacts of climate change during design and construction. For example, the new section of causeway for Auckland's Upper Harbour Corridor, State Highway 18, was built 0.3 metres higher than the existing causeway, which was raised to match it. This was in response to predicted sea level rise.

SH18, Upper Harbour causeway wideningState Highway 18, Upper Harbour Causeway widening

State Highway 18, Upper Harbour causeway widening completedState Highway 18, Upper Harbour Causeway widening completed

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Adapting through maintenance

Transit's Network Operations team is starting to investigate the effectiveness of proactive maintenance measures in reducing climate change risks. The options include:

  • working with regional council's to obtain appropriate consents to protect state highway bridges and culverts by:
    • undertaking periodic removal of debris (like fallen trees) or river gravels; and
    • implementing river protection works to address the degradation of river beds.
  • greater collaboration with Regional Councils on catchment management where Transit structures are at risk by monitoring river bed levels at bridge foundations.
  • each region undertaking a regional risk/sensitivity analysis as an input into the annual maintenance planning process; and
  • developing a scour screening procedure to identify at-risk bridges and culverts in coordination with the seismic screening procedures.
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Adapting through collaboration

Transit has developed good working relationships with the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and the Ministry for the Environment (MfE). Transit believes these relationships are important to ensure we have timely and accurate data to inform decisions on adaptation and to ensure that climate information and research is closely aligned with end-user requirements.

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Adapting through excellence

[Image Caption]New Zealand Road Innovation Award 2006 winners

The New Zealand Road Innovation Award for 2006 was presented to Transit staff Frank McGuire and Yvette Kinsella for their paper Climate Change Uncertainty and the State Highway Network: A Moving Target.

The paper outlines how Transit is responding to the challenge of climate change impacts and is the result of two years' work involving a number of Transit staff as well as NIWA and MfE.

Works Infrastructure Ltd and Transit sponsor the award to recognise the most innovative conference paper from New Zealand and internationally in the previous twelve months.

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Climate change papers

Paper Date Download
Adaptation Policy Conference Paper NZIHT November 2005 PDF (891KB)
Adaptation Position Paper July 2004 PDF (33.8KB)
Climate change impacts table July 2004 PDF (83.2KB)

Feedback

Transit's response to climate change impacts is evolving and Transit encourages your feedback. Please email environment@transit.govt.nz

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Further information on climate change adaptation

Organisations

National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research http://www.niwascience.co.nz/ncc/
Ministry for the Environment http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/climate/
International Global Change Institute IGCI (Waikato University) http://www.waikato.ac.nz/igci/
United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme http://www.ukcip.org.uk/

Resources / Tools

Climate Change Effects and Impacts Assessment: A guidance manual for Local Government in New Zealand http://www.climatechange.govt.nz/resources/local-govt/effects-impacts-may04/index.html
Coastal Hazards and Climate Change: A guidance manual for local government in New Zealand http://www.climatechange.govt.nz/resources/local-govt/coastal-hazards-may04/coastal-hazards-may04.pdf
Case studies http://www.climatechange.govt.nz/resources/local-govt/guidance.html
Climate Explorer http://climate-explorer.niwa.co.nz
CLIMPACTS http://www.waikato.ac.nz/igci/climpacts/