Adaptation Pathways for Vulnerable Coastal Transport Infrastructure

Hard-engineered defences protect critical transport and railway infrastructure that, without long-term adaptation planning, will face increased disruption to services from sea-level rise (SLR). The adaptation pathway (AP) approach has been developed to improve long-term planning for climate change under future uncertainties, however, more local applications are necessary to examine the usefulness of the approach to asset owners and planners. The approach is applied to a local piece of coastal railway infrastructure using secondary data. The finding suggest without adaptation investment ~75% of the assets will fail the standard of protection (SoP) by 2040. Combinations of adaptation options can delay ‘tipping points’ beyond the study period (>2150). The ‘performance-orientated’ AP approach is an insightful tool for strategic planning and policy, and can be achieved without significant organisational capacity. The effectiveness of visual outputs, however, is questionable for multiple assets and data visualisation associated with the approach is recommended for future study.