While transdisciplinary (TD) research is desired in order to solve real world sustainability issues, this may be challenging for both academic and non-academic participants. Supporting learning through evaluation, we analyzed a project aiming at sustainable transport infrastructures. After developing a TD research framework as a benchmark, two external independent evaluators interviewed all project researchers, representatives for end-users, and donors. The evaluators compared results with the framework, and evaluators and participants critically reflected on the results together. There were three inconsistencies relative to the framework: (1) limited understanding of TD research among project management, end-users, and most of the researchers; (2) no structured learning process among end-users; instead, they expressed very diverse opinions about what they expected from the project; (3) project leaders had limited understanding of the special challenges of TD research, did not fully understand the status of the project's social system, and thus did not act as facilitators of the required collaborative learning process. Non-academic participants saw themselves as customers and not as partners in the knowledge production process. We conclude that TD problem-solving research requires much time and needs facilitation and training. A preparatory phase with a lower level of funding would be helpful in preparing for TD processes.

This study analysed the preparedness for climate change adaptation (CCA) of transport infrastructure in eight municipalities in Sweden. The study focused on municipal officials’ role in organizing and implementing CCA measures. The interviews were done in 2011. Many respondents confused CCA with climate change mitigation. Three of the municipalities had performed vulnerability analyses but apart from that, well-documented decision support in long-term adaptation was largely lacking. Adaptation measures were often based on day-to-day problems and recently experienced weather incidents. Strategic work with long-term CCA seemed to be largely lacking. The placing of the responsibility for CCA in the municipal organization was often unclear. Six of the respondents found there were no actual hindrances to their work with CCA and no conflicts with other municipal aims. However, several responses indicated budgetary competition with environmental aims or other societal strivings. The planning and implementation of CCA measures seemed to be highly dependent on individual officials, their engagement, their passivity/activity regarding this issue, their defined responsibility and the boundaries for their current position in the municipality organization. 

I denna studie analyserades beredskapen för transportsystemets anpassning till klimatförändring i åtta svenska kommuner. Studien fokuserade på kommunala tjänstemäns roll i arbetet med att organisera och genomföra åtgärder för klimatanpassning. Intervjuerna genomfördes 2011. Många av de intervjuade blandade samman klimatanpassning med åtgärder mot klimatförändring. Tre av kommunerna hade utfört sårbarhetsanalyser, men väldokumenterade beslutsstöd för anpassningsåtgärder saknades i hög grad. Där åtgärder genomförts, var de ofta baserade på dagliga problem och erfarenheter från nyligen inträffade väderincidenter. Strategiskt arbete med klimatanpassning verkade i stort sett saknas. Ansvaret för klimatanpassning var ofta oklart. Sex av de intervjuade angav att det inte fanns några egentliga hinder för deras arbete med klimatanpassning eller konflikter med andra kommunala intressen. Flera svar angav dock budgetkonkurrens med kommunala prioriteringar inriktade mot miljö eller andra samhällsintressen. Såväl de intervjuades kunskaper som planeringen och genomförandet av klimatanpassningsåtgärder verkade vara starkt beroende av enskilda tjänstemän och deras engagemang samt definition och avgränsning av deras ansvarsområden inom organisationen.

Studien redovisad i denna rapport har som målsättning att bidra till utvecklingen av metodik för att beskriva miljökonsekvenser av 2+1-vägar. Studien har identifierat ett antal miljökonsekvenser som inte alltid uppmärksammas i de miljökonsekvensbeskrivningar som görs inför mittsepareringsprojekt. Med 2+1-vägar menas åtgärden att mittseparera en befintlig ”vanlig” väg för att åstadkomma en mötesseparerad väg med växelvis 2 körfält i ena och 1 körfält i andra körriktningen. Som studieobjekt valdes väg 23 Sandsbro–Drättinge och väg 47/195 Hedenstorp–Habo. Forskarna har i studien identifierat ett antal miljökonsekvenser som inte självskrivet uppmärksammas i miljökonsekvensbeskrivning av mittsepareringsprojekt. Framför allt framkom att man i planeringen hade försummat att beskriva miljökonsekvenser av den omledningstrafik som uppstår då den mittseparerade vägen av olika orsaker stängs av. Även vid enkla drift- och underhållsåtgärder stängs 2+1-vägarna av. Detta leder till otrygghet för personer som bor eller har sin dagliga verksamhet invid omledningsvägen. Forskarna identifierade också olägenheter som hade med föroreningar, buller och vibrationer att göra. Det framkom dessutom att omledningsvägarnas standard inte alltid är tillräcklig för att ta emot de trafikflöden som plötsligt kan uppstå. Miljökonsekvenser förknippade med själva 2+1-vägarna handlade om barriärverkan för kringboende, otrygghet för barnfamiljer, ökat behov att skjutsa barn till aktiviteter samt begränsad tillgänglighet till jordbruks- och skogsfastigheter på andra sidan vägen. På sikt kan sådana konsekvenser möjligen påverka lönsamheten för lokal företagsamhet och bidra till avfolkning av landsbygden. Beträffande cykeltrafiken uppmärksammades behovet av tydlig skyltning till cykelvägar, viss beläggningsstandard på cykelvägen och kontinuitet i cykelvägen utan avbrott som tvingar cyklister ut på 2+1-vägen.

The aim of this study was to contribute to the development of methodology to assess environmental consequences of so-called 2+1 roads. During recent years, many existing roads in Sweden have been upgraded to 2+1 roads, i.e. roads where on-coming traffic is separated by a barrier (wire or guard rail). These roads comprise stretches with two lanes in one direction and one in the opposite direction, with road stretches alternating between one- and two-lane sections. Two roads, upgraded to 2+1 roads in 2009, were chosen for the study. The roads were Road 23 between Sandsbro and Drättinge and Road 47/195 between Hedenstorp and Habo, both in southern Sweden. The study revealed a number of environmental consequences that are not usually addressed in ordinary Environmental Impact Assessment of a road-separation measure. Much focus-group discussion was devoted to consequences of re-routing traffic to alternative roads during occasions when the 2+1 road is closed. Even uncomplicated operations and maintenance measures cause re-routing. This re-routed traffic gives rise to various kinds of inconvenience to people living close to the road receiving the re-routed traffic and to people who have their daily activities close to it. In addition to disturbance and decreased safety, also pollution, noise emission and vibrations were experienced as inconveniences arising from this traffic. Informants also mentioned that some re-routing roads have a standard not sufficient enough to carry the traffic volumes sometimes occurring. Environmental consequences attributed to the 2+1 road itself concerned barrier effects to people living close to the road, insecurity of families with children, the need of car transportation to children’s activities, and limited access to agricultural and forestry properties on the other side of the road. Temporary road closures can lead to decreasing revenues and inconveniences in connection with delivery delays. When it came to cycling, the informants identified the need of good signage to cycleways, sufficient technical standard of the pavement and continuity of the cycleways without interruptions forcing cyclists onto the car road.

Identifying a ‘best’ performing hydrologic model in a practical sense is difficult due to the potential influences of modeller subjectivity on, for example, calibration procedure and parameter selection. This is especially true for model applications at the event scale where the prevailing catchment conditions can have a strong impact on apparent model performance and suitability. In this study, two lumped models (CoupModel and HBV) and two physically-based distributed models (LISEM and MIKE SHE) were applied to a small catchment upstream of a road in south-eastern Norway. All models were calibrated to a single event representing typical winter conditions in the region and then applied to various other winter events to investigate the potential impact of calibration period and methodology on model performance. Peak flow and event-based hydrographs were simulated differently by all models leading to differences in apparent model performance under this application. In this case-study, the lumped models appeared to be better suited for hydrological events that differed from the calibration event (i.e., events when runoff was generated from rain on non-frozen soils rather than from rain and snowmelt on frozen soil) while the more physical-based approaches appeared better suited during snowmelt and frozen soil conditions more consistent with the event-specific calibration. This was due to the combination of variations in subsurface conditions over the eight events considered, the subsequent ability of the models to represent the impact of the conditions (particularly when subsurface conditions varied greatly from the calibration event), and the different approaches adopted to calibrate the models. These results indicate that hydrologic models may not only need to be selected on a case-by-case basis but also have their performance evaluated on an application-by-application basis since how a model is applied can be equally important as inherent model structure.

The European Landscape Convention indicates that assessment of different dimensions that exist in landscapes should be taken into account in planning. In this study, we first investigated ecological, cultural and social values as perceived by the local people in a highway-planning process in Sweden. Next, we explored which factors influenced the local people’s participation in the road-planning process. We used questionnaires, planning documents and the Theory of Planned Behavior to investigate the relations between different factors and local people's participation in the planning process. The results showed that people presumed the ecological values in the landscape to be adversely affected by the new road, while the social values would remain the same. Landowners had heard of the participatory-process, but few participated. Those who lived within 300 m of the road were more active in the planning process than people living further away. The findings suggest that people living within a few hundred metres of the road should be treated as key stakeholders in the planning process. The involvement of other stakeholders, and when in the public participation process stakeholders should be involved, is also discussed.

A method was developed for estimating and mapping flood hazard probability along roads using road and catchment characteristics as physical catchment descriptors (PCDs). The method uses a Geographic Information System (GIS) to derive candidate PCDs and then identifies those PCDs that significantly predict road flooding using a statistical modelling approach. The method thus allows flood hazards to be estimated and also provides insights into the relative roles of landscape characteristics in determining road-related flood hazards. The method was applied to an area in western Sweden where severe road flooding had occurred during an intense rain event as a case study to demonstrate its utility. The results suggest that for this case study area three categories of PCDs are useful for prediction of critical spots prone to flooding along roads: i) topography, ii) soil type, and iii) land use. The main drivers among the PCDs considered were a topographical wetness index, road density in the catchment, soil properties in the catchment (mainly the amount of gravel substrate) and local channel slope at the site of a road-stream intersection. These can be proposed as strong indicators for predicting the flood probability in ungauged river basins in this region, but some care is needed in generalising the case study results other potential factors are also likely to influence the flood hazard probability. Overall, the method proposed represents a straightforward and consistent way to estimate flooding hazards to inform both the planning of future roadways and the maintenance of existing roadways

Road drainage structures are often designed using methods that do not consider process-based representations of a landscape's hydrological response. This may create inadequately sized structures as coupled land cover and climate changes can lead to an amplified hydrological response. This study aims to quantify potential increases of runoff in response to future extreme rain events in a 61 km(2) catchment (40% forested) in southwest Sweden using a physically-based hydrological modelling approach. We simulate peak discharge and water level (stage) at two types of pipe bridges and one culvert, both of which are commonly used at Swedish road/stream intersections, under combined forest clear-cutting and future climate scenarios for 2050 and 2100. The frequency of changes in peak flow and water level varies with time (seasonality) and storm size. These changes indicate that the magnitude of peak flow and the runoff response are highly correlated to season rather than storm size. In all scenarios considered, the dimensions of the current culvert are insufficient to handle the increase in water level estimated using a physically-based modelling approach. It also appears that the water level at the pipe bridges changes differently depending on the size and timing of the storm events. The findings of the present study and the approach put forward should be considered when planning investigations on and maintenance for areas at risk of high water flows. In addition, the research highlights the utility of physically-based hydrological models to identify the appropriateness of road drainage structure dimensioning

A physically-based, distributed hydrological model (MIKE SHE) was used to quantify overland runoff in response to four extreme rain events and four types of simulated land use measure in a catchment in Norway. The current land use in the catchment comprises arable lands, forest, urban areas and a stream that passes under a motorway at the catchment outlet. This model simulation study demonstrates how the composition and configuration of land use measures affect discharge at the catchment outlet differently in response to storms of different sizes. For example, clear-cutting on 30% of the catchment area produced a 60% increase in peak discharge and a 10% increase in total runoff resulting from a 50-year storm event in summer, but the effects on peak discharge were less pronounced during smaller storms. Reforestation of 60% of the catchment area was the most effective measure in reducing peak flows for smaller (2-, 5- and 10-year) storms. Introducing grassed waterways reduced water velocity in the stream and resulted in a 28% reduction in peak flow at the catchment outlet for the 50-year storm event. Overall, the results indicate that the specific effect of land use measures on catchment discharge depends on their spatial distribution and on the size and timing of storm events.

National Road Administrations (NRAs) across Europe strive to improve the performance of their road networks. This improvement has been underpinned by significant research in the optimisation of road planning, design, construction and maintenance, which has enhanced the understanding of the social, environmental and economic aspects of managing a road network. Whilst there is common understanding in some aspects of sustainability there is not a common understanding of sustainability as a whole and thus how to benchmark and improve overall performance. The Sustainability: National Road Administrations (SUNRA) project aims to provide a common way of defining sustainability, identify how to measure sustainable development at a strategic level and integrate sustainable decision making into key intervention points. The project has developed a series of sustainability frameworks that allow NRAs to develop a tailored approach to sustainability based on national priorities, significant issues, stakeholder concerns and individual organisational structures.