Advancing the Vulnerability Characterization of California Roadways to Wildfires

Project Description

Wildfires and post-fire debris flows have had severe impacts on California’s transportation system recently, and climate forecasts show that these hazards are likely to become more of a concern in the future. Yet our understanding of the vulnerability of transportation systems to wildfires is in its nascent stages, with focus largely on evacuation logistics and characterizing where risks of fire are increasing and which infrastructure are co-located. Wildfire risk is much more complex as post-fire precipitation events create conditions where roadway stormwater management is failed often leaving remote communities disconnected. There is an opportunity to improve our understanding of the vulnerability of transportation systems and associated adaptation strategies to ensure that services continue to be delivered in the face of growing hazards. This problem is not specific to California as wildfires across the Southwest are becoming more problematic. Furthermore, as development continues, the urban-wildland interface is changing, creating serious questions about how people and services are protected during extreme events. Advancing transportation vulnerability assessment to more critically examine the complexities in natural systems and their interfaces with human built systems represents an important frontier for research and science, with implications in California, the Southwest, the US, and internationally.