Climate change and global warming are causing significant changes in precipitation and temperature, resulting in extreme precipitation events, flooding, and very heavy snowfall. These changes influence soil moisture, which then affects transportation infrastructure performance. TRB will host a webinar on Wednesday, July 13, 2022 from 2:30 – 4:00 PM Eastern that will explore climate change effects on the performance of geotechnical transportation assets. Presenters will cover ways local governments are constructing infrastructure with climate change in mind, remote sensing assessment of ground moisture using U.S. National Aeronautical and Space Administration satellite measurements, and field-scale evaluation of slopes using instrumentation and geophysical testing.

This webinar is sponsored by TRB’s Standing Technical Committees on Mechanics and Drainage of Saturated and Unsaturated Geomaterials, on Geotechnical Instrumentation and Modeling, and on Geo-Environmental and Climatic Impacts on Geomaterials.

Registration is free for employees of TRB sponsors as well as Titanium and Cobalt Global Affiliates. The registration rate for all other attendees is $100. Sign into MyTRB.org to view registration information. Contact Patrice Davenport to inquire about becoming a TRB sponsor or global affiliate organization.

A recording will be sent to all registrants after the webinar.

Webinar agenda and presenters

• Proactive approach to climate challenges adaption - Mike LeBeau, City of Duluth, Minnesota
• Evaluating infrastructure foundations’ performance with soil-moisture satellite data - Mehran Mazari, California State University, Los Angeles
• Climate change effect on moisture variation in highway slopes on expansive soil - Sadik Khan, Jackson State University
• Question and answer session moderated by John Siekmeier, Minnesota Department of Transportation

The first 60 minutes of the webinar will be for presentations and the final 30 minutes will be reserved for audience questions.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Evaluate the impact of climate change on infrastructure construction
• Use soil-moisture satellite data to evaluate infrastructure performance
• Consider moisture variation in highway slopes on expansive soil

Professional Development Hour Information

Professional engineers (PEs) who register and attend the entire webinar as an individual will be awarded 1.5 Professional Development Hours (PDHs). TRB’s webinar program awards PDH credits only to the registered individual, and not to other members of a group that view the webinar together. To be eligible for the credits, individuals must remain signed in for the entire webinar, including for any question and answer session following the presentations.

Please check with your licensing board to ensure that TRB webinar PDHs are approved by your board.

TRB will report credits earned to the Registered Continuing Education Program (RCEP). Complaints about registered providers may be sent to RCEP, 1015 15th Street, NW, 8th Floor, Washington, D.C., 20005.

Pre-registration is required. Once the webinar starts, you will be unable to register. Individuals that are registered for a webinar but do not receive their confirmation emails due to their organization’s internal firewalls should contact the TRB Helpdesk for assistance in signing in.

View our FAQ page for more information.

Registration questions? Contact TRB webinar program.