Extreme heat events are becoming more frequent and severe, posing an increasingly urgent challenge to global transportation systems. Roads, rails, runways, and public transit networks are all being tested under higher temperatures, leading to buckled rails, deteriorated pavements, and damaged airport runways — but also to changing user behavior and new stresses on transport workers. These effects threaten not only infrastructure performance but also the safety, reliability, and inclusiveness of transport services.
Heatwaves and Their Effects on Transportation Systems: A Comprehensive Review brings together scientific evidence to quantify how extreme heat affects transport assets and operations. The report highlights where data are strongest — and where significant gaps remain, especially in low- and middle-income countries that face both rapid infrastructure expansion and intensifying climate pressures. It examines the physical, operational, and behavioral dimensions of heat impacts across all major transportation modes (roads, traffic collisions, railways, air transportation, public transportation, and active transportation).
The report also considers how factors such as income, age, gender can exacerbate heatwave effects on both users and the transport workforce, shaping exposure, vulnerability, and adaptive capacity. It emphasizes that the consequences of heatwaves extend beyond infrastructure performance — influencing who can travel, how safely they can do so, and under what conditions. Recognizing these interactions is essential to designing transport systems that not only withstand higher temperatures but also protect the people who depend on and sustain them.
The complementary issue note, Preparing Resilient Transportation Systems for Heatwaves, summarizes the effects of heatwaves on transport infrastructure and human behavior, distilling these insights into mitigation and adaptation strategies. It underlines the need to view heat resilience through a systemic lens — one that accounts for users and transport workers as much as for physical assets. For example, cooling strategies for pavements may reduce surface degradation but can also reflect heat toward pedestrians; similarly, rail and aviation safety protocols to mitigate heat stress can lead to reduced service hours, with economic and social ripple effects. The issue note’s key recommendations include assessing critical vulnerabilities, applying flexible adaptation pathways that evolve with emerging risks, advancing heat equity considerations, improving extreme heat governance, and following a phased roadmap to develop resilient systems.
By synthesizing evidence and practical strategies, this work provides a foundation for building transportation systems that can operate safely, efficiently, and equitably in a warming world. Preparing for the silent hazard of extreme heat, after all, demands an integrated approach to resilience — one that aligns infrastructure design, workforce safety, and user experience across the full cycle of prediction, preparation, prevention, and recovery.
Developed through a collaborative effort by a panel of experts convened by the World Bank, GFDRR, and Purdue University, the report and accompanying issue note underscore a shared commitment to helping countries anticipate, adapt to, and withstand the growing impacts of climate extremes.
