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This guide by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) presents a 'market access methodology' to quantify the direct and indirect environmental impacts, specifically deforestation and carbon emissions, of transportation infrastructure projects. Unlike traditional methods that rely on geographical distance buffers, this approach uses social and economic dynamics—specifically how a project changes the cost and ease of connecting markets—to estimate the area of influence and predict ex-ante land use conversion.

This whitepaper by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) argues that current environmental assessments for transportation infrastructure in the Amazon fail to account for indirect effects, leading to an underestimation of ecological footprints. The authors propose a 'market access' approach using geoprocessing and statistical analysis to better quantify how reduced transport costs drive deforestation and agricultural expansion far beyond the immediate project site.

This fact sheet provides a global overview of high-speed rail (HSR) development, contrasting the extensive networks in Asia and Europe with the limited deployment in the United States. It details the history of HSR, the technical standards for speed, the economic and environmental benefits of rail over air and car travel, and the current status of projects in China, Japan, France, and the U.S.

This briefing by the International Institute for Sustainable Development outlines strategies for building climate-resilient urban transportation infrastructure, with a particular focus on Alberta's cities. It emphasizes the need for robustness, redundancy, and resourcefulness to mitigate the risks posed by rising temperatures and extreme weather events.

This research paper evaluates the climate-related vulnerabilities, costs, and benefits associated with the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road, a mine access road located in the northeastern Northwest Territories that is primarily constructed over frozen lakes.

This report identifies key climate-related impacts and issues facing Colombia's road sector, emphasizing the vulnerability of transportation infrastructure to floods and landslides and the need to integrate climate risks into future investments and institutional coordination.

This background paper, published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) in August 2014, provides a framework for consultations regarding Manitoba's transportation and infrastructure sectors as part of the 'TomorrowNow—Manitoba’s Green Plan'. It outlines the province's current greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions profile, the vulnerabilities of its infrastructure to climate change, and examples of climate policies from other jurisdictions to inform a new provincial climate change and green economy action plan.

This report summarizes a 2011 workshop on climate adaptation for transportation, highlighting that local contextual data (e.g., infrastructure condition) is often more critical for decision-making than broad climate models. It identifies significant communication gaps between scientists and engineers, calls for a central information clearinghouse, and recommends updating engineering standards to move beyond historical data. Key needs include higher-resolution precipitation data, better economic tools for cost-benefit analysis of adaptation, and increased federal support for state and local capacity building.

This February 2012 briefing by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) compares two competing transportation infrastructure bills in the U.S. Congress: the House's H.R. 7 and the Senate's S. 1813. The document details the funding mechanisms, durations, and policy differences between the two versions as they move toward floor votes.

This executive summary describes a May 2012 joint report by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and the Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP). The report synthesizes findings from a November 2011 workshop funded by NOAA, which brought together climate scientists and transportation planners to identify the information and assistance needed to adapt surface transportation infrastructure to climate change and extreme weather events.

This fact sheet presents a Sustainable Asset Valuation (SAVi) assessment of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in Dakar, Senegal. The analysis compares a traditional financial assessment with an integrated cost-benefit analysis that incorporates six environmental, social, and economic externalities to determine the project's true value to society.