Airports of all sizes are grappling with how to deal with current and projected impacts of climate change, including extreme weather events, and need ways to minimize associated long-term risks and costs. Requested by the industry, Gresham Smith was part of a team to develop Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Research Report 188: Using Existing Airport Management Systems to Manage Climate Risk which guides airport planners, management, and operations, to integrate climate change-related risks into existing airport management systems and planning.

Client

Airport Cooperative Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Transportation Research Board

Location

Washington, D.C.

Project Type

Aviation

108

pages of practical guidance

1

quick start guide

12

airport stakeholders

An Integrated Approach to Better Mitigate Risk

An Integrated Approach to Better Mitigate Risk

Rather than viewing climate risks as completely new and separate, it’s possible to incorporate these risks into existing decision-making processes. Every airport has one or more planning processes already in place, such as strategic planning, capital planning and/or emergency management, among others, which also provide a framework to assess and address risks from a changing climate. The guidance taps into the processes familiar to an airport and plugs in climate information for evaluation during a typical planning cycle. The integrated approach helps them to make informed decisions about investments that mitigates risks, provides a more holistic and long-term view and creates a pathway to spot synergies across departments and functional areas. ACRP 188 gives airports the tools and best practices they need to do this.
High Performance Planning Tools

High Performance Planning Tools

ACRP 188 includes a self-assessment tool for determining the applicable systems for climate-related decision-making within the airport. It leverages the ACRP Report Climate Risk Operational Screening (ACROS) Tool, which Gresham Smith helped develop during a previous project, to gather airport-specific projections of climate hazards and associated infrastructure impacts. The handbook provides strategies for building stakeholder support across the airport. Short on time? It also features a 16-page quick start guide describing the main steps.
Industry Involvement

Industry Involvement

To maximize the utility of the handbook – to make it truly accessible and applicable – we solicited feedback from airport stakeholders during a series of webinars and site visits. Representatives from the City of Phoenix Airport Department, the City and County of Denver, Atlanta Department of Aviation, Lee County Port Authority, Columbus Regional Airport Authority, Allegheny County Airport Authority, and Massachusetts Port Authority participated in webinars. We conducted site visits at Southwest Florida International Airport, Denver International Airport, Logan International Airport, Pittsburgh International Airport, and Seattle—Tacoma International Airport where we facilitated a walk-through of the guidance and we addressed their airport-specific climate risks in the process

View/Purchase ACRP Report Research 188: Using Existing Airport Management Systems to Manage Climate Risk on the Transportation Research Board’s website.

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Project Contact

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Tim Arendt, P.E.
Tim Arendt, P.E.
Senior Environmental Engineer