Transport

Abstract

30 to 50 % of road maintenance costs in Europe are weather-related, with precipitation triggered events, like flooding and mass movement, contributing most. As most transport occurs on roads, damage implications of road transport infrastructure are explicitly relevant. In this chapter, we focus therefore on damages to road transport infrastructure and assess the costs of climate change induced repair and investment for the Austrian road network until mid-century. In addition to changed precipitation patterns, we also take road network expansion into account. We find that precipitation triggered damage costs to the Austrian road network are 18 million euros per year in the period 1981–2010. These damages increase to 27 million euros per year in the period 2016–2045 and 38 million euros in the period 2036–2065. For Austria in total, the lion’s share of this cost increase is caused by an increase in exposed values (road network expansion), not climate change. While some regions are characterised by increases in precipitation, precipitation is decreasing in others, and there is also a seasonal shift. As a consequence, the overall effect of changes in precipitation is modest for Austria in total. The induced additional investment needed for road maintenance due primarily to road network extension and only secondarily to climate change is beneficial for the construction sector, but affects other sectors negatively due to higher prices. As a consequence, the decline in welfare and GDP is about three times larger than the additional investment cost for both periods (2016–2045 and 2036–2065).