USDOT Launches Climate Adaptation Plan

The plan outlines the department’s key priorities in building resilient infrastructure and ensuring environmental justice in historically disinvested communities.

1 minute read

November 25, 2024, 8:00 AM PST

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Row of blue electric buses parked and plugged in at charging station.

THINK b / Adobe Stock

The U.S. Department of Transportation has released a 2024-2027 Climate Adaptation Plan aimed at building resilient infrastructure, integrating climate risk into its operations, and ensuring environmental justice. The agency’s focus on integrating environmental justice is designed to ensure across its programs and strengthen vulnerable communities.

According to an article in Global Railway Review, “The CAP introduces initiatives to strengthen infrastructure resilience and support vulnerable communities” that include a Climate Hazard Exposure and Resilience (CHER) Tool and the PROTECT program, which “supports resilience projects like evacuation routes and coastal defenses to protect infrastructure from extreme weather.”

The CAP prioritizes four key areas: investment in climate-smart infrastructure, linking climate resilience and environmental justice, leveraging federal climate data, and reducing climate impacts on federal assets.

Thursday, November 21, 2024 in Global Railway Review

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Get top-rated, practical training

Concrete Brutalism building with slanted walls and light visible through an atrium.

What ‘The Brutalist’ Teaches Us About Modern Cities

How architecture and urban landscapes reflect the trauma and dysfunction of the post-war experience.

February 28, 2025 - Justin Hollander

Complete Street

‘Complete Streets’ Webpage Deleted in Federal Purge

Basic resources and information on building bike lanes and sidewalks, formerly housed on the government’s Complete Streets website, are now gone.

February 27, 2025 - Streetsblog USA

Green electric Volkswagen van against a beach backdrop.

The VW Bus is Back — Now as an Electric Minivan

Volkswagen’s ID. Buzz reimagines its iconic Bus as a fully electric minivan, blending retro design with modern technology, a 231-mile range, and practical versatility to offer a stylish yet functional EV for the future.

March 3, 2025 - ABC 7 Eyewitness News

View of mountains with large shrubs in foreground in Altadena, California.

Healing Through Parks: Altadena’s Path to Recovery After the Eaton Fire

In the wake of the Eaton Fire, Altadena is uniting to restore Loma Alta Park, creating a renewed space for recreation, community gathering, and resilience.

3 hours ago - Pasadena NOw

Aerial view of single-family homes with swimming pools in San Diego, California.

San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule

The city wants to close a loophole that allowed developers to build apartment buildings on single-family lots as ADUs.

5 hours ago - Axios

Close-up of row of electric cars plugged into chargers at outdoor station.

Electric Vehicles for All? Study Finds Disparities in Access and Incentives

A new UCLA study finds that while California has made progress in electric vehicle adoption, disadvantaged communities remain underserved in EV incentives, ownership, and charging access, requiring targeted policy changes to advance equity.

March 9 - UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation