The ¿Climate Change Impact Assessment for Surface Transportation in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska¿ Research project is underway. The Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC) and Alaska University Transportation Center (AUTC) were selected to conduct the research project. The project team is a multi-disciplinary group of researchers from Oregon and Alaska consisting of John MacArthur, Oregon Transportation Research and Education Center; Dr. Philip Mote, Director Oregon Climate Change Research, Institute, Oregon State University; Dr. Jason Ideker, Assistant Professor, Oregon State University; Dr. Miguel Figliozzi, Assistant Professor, Portland State University; Dr. Ming Lee, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University o f Alaska Fairbanks. The team brings unprecedented expertise in climate change, transportation operations, and infrastructure from Oregon State University, Portland State University, and the University of Alaska - Fairbanks.

To address high priority transportation research topics of common interest to the four Northwest states and for which expertise exists in the four University Transportation Centers (UTC)in these same states.

The project will provide a regional assessment of climate change and its potential impacts on surface transportation systems for the Pacific Northwest and Alaska region. The research will clarify how regional climate change will affect the physical condition and serviceability of the regional transportation system. The project will culminate in a report that will address the nature of the changes and their potential impacts on the regional transportation system in addition to outreach materials designed to inform and educate transportation leaders, agencies, professionals, and students. The research team will also work with OTREC and AUTC education and technology transfer staff to develop curricula (e.g., workshop, seminar, etc.) that can be used by NWTC member departments and Region X universities. The project team recognizes that the widely diverse topography, climate regimes, and localized variability of impacts within the region will complicate efforts to understand and plan for adapting to the potential impacts of climate change on the regional transportation system.

Minimum state commitment is $25,000.