This Climate Adaptation Forum took place on October 23, 2017. Extreme weather events and other natural disasters threaten the operations and the capital assets of transit systems across the country. Billions of dollars of transit assets—vehicles, track, equipment—have been destroyed by extreme weather events, halting service, sometimes for long periods of time. In a changing climate, the frequency and severity of these disruptions are expected to increase. Transit agencies can greatly reduce this cost and disruption by incorporating resilience into their systems.
This Forum focused on a recent study on how best to make transit systems resilient to extreme weather events. Jon A. Carnegie, AICP/PP, Executive Director of the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers, opened the forum by sharing the results of this study. He was be followed by representatives from the major transit agencies that serve the DVRPC region—PATCO, NJ Transit, SEPTA, and Amtrak—discussing their agencies’ extreme weather resiliency and climate change adaptation activities.
Panelists participated in a moderated discussion, which included questions from participants.
Workshop Summary [0.2 MB pdf]
Program
Welcome/Overview [0.1 MB pdf]
Rob Graff, Manager, Office of Energy & Climate Change Initiatives, DVRPC
Featured Speaker
Preparing Transit Systems for Extreme Weather [3.1 MB pdf]
Jon A. Carnegie, AICP/PP, Exec. Director, Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers
Panel of Transit Agency Experts
Beth Termini, Senior Director, Environment & Sustainability, Amtrak [0.7 MB pdf]
Rohan Hepkins, Assistant General Manager, Delaware River Port Authority / Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO)
Brad Mason, Director, Capital Resilience & Continuity, New Jersey Transit Corporation (NJ Transit) [slides forthcoming, pending approval]
Panel Discussion and Audience Q&A
Moderated by Jon Carnegie
Wrap-up
Chris Linn, Manager, Office of Environmental Planning, DVRPC
Handouts
- Meeting Agenda [0.1 MB pdf]
- Featured Speaker and Panelists Bios [0.2 MB pdf]