Solutions that put people first.

Climate Resilience & Evacuation

Transportation-related climate issues aren’t just about cutting pollution. Communities need flexible plans that consider current and future climate risks, available funds, and local needs in order to respond to severe weather events and other climate impacts. Because low-income and minority communities often face the biggest challenges from climate change and pollution, our solutions respect each community’s history and unique needs.

Our goal is to provide practical, local solutions that help communities adapt to climate change, wisely invest in roads and multimodal infrastructure, prioritize transit access, resolve policy conflicts, and reduce risks. We’re preparing not only for today’s climate changes, but also those we’ll face in the future.

Our Expertise

Clients come to us to:

• Bridge Gaps: Integrate sustainability, planning, and engineering to inform land use decisions, improve access to sustainable and efficient transportation, and leverage state of good repair plans.
• Develop Customized Strategies: Develop transportation-focused climate adaptation and resilience strategies customized to address the highest priority climate risks and hazards.
• Approach Evacuations with Equity: Identify equitable outcomes in climate response and multimodal evacuation planning.
• Address Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Goals: Reimagine transportation systems, develop low-carbon infrastructure solutions, and thoughtfully implement zero-emission technology to reduce GHGs.
• Act on Policy: Turn state and federal compliance requirements—such as CEQA, SEPA, NEPA, GHG emissions reduction targets, and bus fleet electrification policies—into actionable plans.
• Integrate Emerging Tech and Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs): Evaluate the costs, benefits, and strategic infrastructure locations for emerging technologies like ZEVs and micromobility.

Why We’re Trusted

Our team has nearly 20 years of experience in climate-focused transportation planning, with highlights such as:

• Coast-to-Coast Climate Action Plans: We have supported cities and jurisdictions from Washington state to Washington, D.C. to develop and quantify customized packages of transportation demand management (TDM), vehicle electrification, and efficient land use strategies to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and GHGs.
• Writing the Book on Land Use and Climate Change: One of our co-founders, Jerry Walters, co-wrote the book Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change in 2008, as part of an Urban Land Institute collaboration among academic, air quality, and smart growth experts to document how key changes in land development patterns could help reduce GHG emissions.
• Safeguarding Passenger Comfort Against Heat Exposure: As one of our many transportation-focused climate adaptation strategies, we assessed current station-by-station conditions and future needs along a key rail corridor in Orange County, California.
• Engaging Communities in Evacuation Planning: Across multiple communities like Rancho Cucamonga, Montecito, and Sonoma and Napa Counties, we have modeled dozens of scenarios leveraging our custom-built tools to estimate how long an evacuation might take given different conditions and assumptions. To better understand transportation system performance during an evacuation, we engaged with key stakeholders, community leaders, wildfire experts, and first responders.

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