Spare tire, jumper cables, and… wading boots?

A couple of new government studies assess the impacts climate change is going to have on U.S. transportation infrastructure, including roads, ports, and rail lines. Some of the quoted statistics are a little nerve-wracking. According to today’s New York Times the report put out by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program highlights some major vulnerabilities:

Produced by a collaboration among agencies that included the United States Geological Survey, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Transportation, the report offers three estimates for sea-level rise by 2100: about 16 inches a century, a rate it said had already been exceeded; about two feet, an estimate many scientists regard as optimistic; and up to three feet, which the report says would be catastrophic for wetlands and other coastal features but that is “less than high estimates suggested by more recent publications.”

…

The multiagency report cited the Port of Wilmington in Delaware as an example. The report says that if the sea level rises by two feet or even a bit less, 70 percent of port property will be affected.

Meanwhile, it says, such a rise in sea level would leave almost 2,200 miles of major roads and almost 900 miles of rail lines in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and the District of Columbia “at risk for regular inundation.”

I guess if I live long enough I am going to be boating to work.

Here’s the lede from the NYTimes’ story, and some further info on the other report: