Why Road Infrastructure?

Road infrastructure is highly vulnerable to climate change. Higher temperatures can cause pavement to soften and expand, leading to rutting, blow-ups, potholes, stress on bridge joints. Due to climate change it is expected, that the frequency of phenomena poses severe danger to road infrastructure such as: flooding, landslides, wash-outs, wildfires will increase. The need for adaptation measures, especially in the transport sector, is urgent.

Road infrastructure has a number of users and good potential for implementation of green infrastructure solutions for climate proofing. This makes a focus on road infrastructure the ideal choice in terms of replicability. The designs and constructions of the roads and highways in the Western Balkan region, do not include preventive measurements. For example, unsecured slopes, tunnels lacked the primary protection, and geological aspects were not taken into account during the planning phase. A An extensive problem is caused by illegal construction practices which is a widespread issue in the whole region.

The integration of climate change projections and resilience measures into both the planning and realization phase of big infrastructural inventions will protect populations and the environment from further environmental degradation. It also has positive externalities on the economic aspect of the infrastructure development. By ensuring the viability of the long-term operation as well as to cope with climate change.

Economic Impact          
According to a study for the European Commission, weather stresses already represent 30% to 50% of current road maintenance costs in Europe (8 to 13 billon €/yr) , an estimation of 10% from these costs (~0.9 billion €/yr) are associated with extreme weather events (Nemry & Demirel, 2012). The EU integration process implies the need for better connecting the economies of the WB region with the economies of the EU Member States. Therefore, numerous new infrastructures and investments in this sector are planned and will be further developed in the next new decades. This tendency is particularly pronounced with regards to road infrastructure.

The need for climate proofing of general and road infrastructure in general a is recognized as a high priority in various regional and national assessment facilitated by UN agencies and the EU.