Due to global warming, huge amounts of money are being spent on road maintenance.

If any sensible person is asked whether it is worth investing in a business that will be destroyed by the elements in 5 years, then most likely the answer will be “no”. The problem is that the “element” is not necessarily a tornado or an earthquake. It could be climate change. But global warming, unlike a tornado, for many of us still seems to be something far away and fantastic. Yes, there are reports of scientists, some glaciers are melting, the level of the World Ocean rises, but most ordinary people do not perceive all these problems until, as they say, trouble knocks on the house.

And not only ordinary people behave this way. Some modern companies and officials behave as if no warming exists. For example, Donald Trump and his administration recently removed the restrictions that construction in the United States was not allowed in those regions that would have to go under water in a short time. What is the point of building in the place that in a few years will be under the water column? Probably none. But not only water comes. There is also a temperature increase, and very active.

As for construction, the maximum problems in this case are not those who create the houses, but those who pave the roads. Indeed, due to climate change, tens of thousands of kilometers of the roadway can go under water.
')
In addition to water, there are other problems - for example, a gradual increase in average annual temperature. Road builders of past years relied on temperature and humidity indicators that have been relevant for a particular region for many years, even decades. But global warming is making its own adjustments. Where it used to be very cold, now it's just cold, where it was just cold — now it's more or less warm, where it was warm — it's hot, and so on. This does not apply to all regions, but in most cases, over time, climate and weather conditions change almost everywhere.

And that is very important for construction, in particular - for road construction. Asphalt is extremely sensitive to temperature and humidity. For different regions, builders use different asphalt mixes (as is the case with concrete, by the way). If you put the wrong asphalt, it can quickly crack if it's too cold. If it is very hot, the asphalt can melt. The problem is that now builders, at least in the United States and Europe, use data on the temperature dynamics of various regions, guided by information accumulated from 1964 to 1995.

A group of American scientists from Arizona conducted a study on the characteristics of pavement in the continental US. The coverage of more than 800 roads across the country has been studied. As it turned out, in most cases, the asphalt mix was chosen incorrectly. So, the builders mainly worked with the mixture, which is intended primarily for regions with low temperatures and frost. But in those regions where it is necessary to cover, severe frosts no longer exist. On the contrary, the temperature here is getting higher and higher every year. But just for the heat of the road surface is not adapted. Of course, no one says that such roads are unsuitable for exploitation. But the fact that they will have to be repaired more often is beyond doubt.



And all right, if you could get by with a little blood. But frequent repairs require a lot of money. According to experts, due to the wrong choice of material for the roadway, the US budget can spend an additional 13-14 billion dollars per year. And the higher the temperature rises, the more often it will be necessary to repair the roads unsuitable for the heat. By 2040, additional repair costs will increase up to $ 19 billion, and by 2070 - up to $ 22 billion. If the temperature rises faster than scientists assume, the amounts will increase to $ 26 and $ 35 billion, respectively.

Anyway, road builders obviously need to create new temperature tables, plus take into account the temperature and humidity dynamics in the “new world”. The same applies to the builders of other countries and regions - because the climate is changing everywhere, and this must be taken into account.

DOI: 10.1038 / NCLIMATE3390