Symposium Issue: Climate Change and Infrastructure—The Coming Challenge

It is indisputable that civil infrastructure is essential to modern society. Life for much of the planet would be far less agreeable without the transportation, power, water and sewer, and communications services that we rely on every day, but which normally go unnoticed until they stop working. Following any natural disaster such as a hurricane or earthquake, the first order of the day after rescuing survivors is to get the infrastructure working again. Work crews descend en masse on affected communities to repair downed power lines, clear fallen trees, and remove debris. This all too familiar scenario recently played out in North and South Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence and again in Florida following Hurricane Michael. Although such events are devastating to the affected communities, they are still relatively rare. A pressing question for the infrastructure community and policy and decision makers at all levels of government to consider is how do we prepare to deal with such events when they are no longer rare, but a recurrent fact of everyday life. Climate change is likely to make this an operational rather than an academic inquiry in the not so distant future.