We recommend that the following steps be taken as a matter of priority, to help appreciate and understand the impact of climate change on highways maintenance:

1. Evaluate the opportunities and risks to the networks and its users using NI188 and HAAFM.

    

2. Understand headline opportunities and risks, which include:

   1. Loss of the structural integrity of highway surfaces in increased operating temperatures

   2. Damage to highway structures during intense precipitation and consequential flooding

   3. Damage to highway structures from a temperature range that exceeds designed performance requirements

   4. Heightened wind speed and changed wind patterns.

   5. Drier weather may allow using alternative products that could increase whole life cycle of highways road surfaces.

3. Evaluate the probability of the opportunities and risks occurring together with the likely costs or savings of repairing damage and/or managing the events proactively.

    

4. Investigate adaptation measures and adopt a response that balances appropriately the costs of risk with the cost of implementation and any opportunities for savings. Adaptation measure that can be applied include:

   1. Asset investment decision making based on whole life cost that includes climate risk (low cost)

   2. Highway drainage planning to increase resilience to intense precipitation (medium cost)

   3. Flood protection around key trunk roads and interchanges (high cost)

   4. Maintenance renewal programmes that promote greater whole life cycle considerations (low cost).

   5. Verge maintenance programme lengthening intervals between swathe cuts, thus reducing costs.