Trump's $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan ignores one key thing that could prevent billions in annual damages

On Monday, the Trump administration unveiled
However, the plan does not mention resilience in the face of climate change.
Severe weather, exacerbated by rising temperatures and greenhouse-gas emissions, costs the US billions in infrastructure repairs every year.

Stephanie Gidigbi, , called the plan "misguided."

Though it's hard to say exactly how much climate change-linked infrastructure damages costs the US, a 2017 study estimates that rising temperatures are increasing maintenance and construction costs for roads by billions of dollars every year.

That's because asphalt is sensitive to temperature. Temperature can determine the construction method, too. Asphalt blends that are more resilient to hot summers often cost more, but they are also less prone to damages.

In 2010, temperature changes added anywhere from $13.6 billion to $14.5 billion in annual pavement costs, according to the study. That figure could increase to $19 billion in 2040 and $21.8 billion in 2070. Under a more extreme prediction, warmer temperatures could contribute $26.3 billion and $35.8 billion in annual costs by 2040 and 2070 respectively.

These forecasts do not account for road impacts from flooding and storm surges, which would make cost figures even higher.

"Because these transportation systems constitute large civil investments ($7.7 trillion in assets and $45 billion annual expenditures) and underpin an economic vibrancy [3.1 trillion miles] of public travel per year and private citizen expenditures equal to 8.9% of GDP), the impacts [of climate change] may be substantial," the researchers wrote.

Trump's plan is a departure from how infrastructure is usually funded. As BI's Bob Bryan notes, the federal government typically covers the majority of the cost, but under Trump's plan, local governments would take on 80% or more of the financial burden. Local governments are already largely responsible for repairs after major storms and other weather events. The City of New York, for example, plans to spend $20 billion on damages from Hurricane Sandy.

his proposal doesn’t begin to respond to the scale of assistance local communities need to cope with these mounting impacts — it merely shifts the burden of rebuilding our nation’s crumbling infrastructure onto state and local budgets which are already strapped," Ken Kimmell, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a statement.

Kimmel notes the infrastructure plan also doesn't mention renewable energy, the modern electric grid, resilience, or adaptation.

"This is a plan to shore up the infrastructure of the past, rather than invest in what we need for the future," he said.

Trump's $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan ignores one key thing that could prevent billions in annual damages

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