A new guide has been published for local highway authorities, to support resilience planning across road networks as extreme weather events grow in frequency and severity.

Titled The Local Highways Climate Adaptation Guide, it has been produced by the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (Adept) to help authorities manage highways more effectively in the face of these changes.

It covers how to update a resilient route network, how to undertake a local risk assessment and how to update an asset management plan.

It also includes “the full spectrum of climate impacts on highway infrastructure, from severe weather events such as storms that affect road conditions over hours, to gradual long-term shifts in climate measured over years,” said a statement from Adept.

“It addresses risks to key asset categories including pavements, bridges, drainage, geotechnical assets and soft estate, and sets out a hierarchy of adaptation measures to help authorities make the most of limited budgets.”

Adept represents local authority place directors and their teams at county, unitary, metropolitan and combined authorities.

Collectively, its members manage more than 260,000km of roads.

Adept president Katie Stewart said: “The heatwave we saw last month, with record breaking temperatures, highlights the increasing pressure that extreme weather is placing on road networks that were not built for such conditions.

“This guide gives highway authorities the practical tools they need to plan ahead and protect the infrastructure that communities depend on every day.”

Arcadis head of highways asset management Andrew Warrington said: “This guide has been developed as a practical resource to help officers assess risk, prioritise action and “build climate adaptation into day-to-day asset management and longer-term planning.

“Our aim is to support authorities to make informed, proportionate decisions that strengthen resilience and deliver best value for the communities they serve.”

The guide is available to download here.

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