UC2: Adaptation to heatwaves, drought and wildfire impact to transport network in Spain 

For the last three years, Catalonia has been under a severe drought condition. This, together with prolonged high temperatures and an increase of dry biomass in forests have increased the risk of wildfires. During the summer 2024, several fires affected critical infrastructure, especially roads and railways, which suffered from service disruption due to the proximity of the fires to the network. In this new context, only looking at drought or wildfire alone is not enough to assess risks for critical infrastructure. The aim of this use case is to address the impacts that compound hazards of droughts, heatwaves and wildfires will have on roads in the region of Catalonia. 

The research will focus on quantifying what roads are more prone to be affected by compound wildfire and drought risk. The study will include present and future climate condition and will describe the impacts at the network-level.  

The starting point of this use case will be the selection of single hazards indicators from droughts, heatwaves and wildfires. These will be combined with landscape information, such as presence of vegetation, to identify risk areas not only due to climatic conditions but also due to the presence of biomass (one of the main triggers of wildfires). From the stakeholder consultations we will explore data gaps in wildfire risk assessments. These will include infrastructure managers that can be affected by wildfires and civil protection and regional government agencies, that work on reducing the risk of climate hazards on infrastructure. Within this Use Case, and based on the outcomes of the risk assessment, adaptation options will be explored. For this last part, a key aspect will be participation in living labs where experts in the field of forestry and tourism gather to discuss adaptation options that could be implemented at the local level. Through our participation, we aim to not only provide information on where and what are the key risks for road infrastructure, but also explore how existing adaptation practices could be implemented to reduce the risk.  

Sample interventions

• Exposure model for the roadway network in Catalonia, including highways, primary, secondary and small roads. 

• Creation of single and compound hazard model from drought, heatwave and wildfire  

• Evaluation of optimal adaptation strategies at the asset and network level  

Follow Lobelia’s work

• LinkedIn

• Twitter