1374479 - The Impact of Wildfires on Pavements

Climate change and extreme weather events have been impacting both the function and performance of pavements significantly enough for them to be considered in the planning, design, construction, and management of pavements. Such considerations have led to an increased focus on infrastructure resilience by several national, state, and local agencies. Resiliency considerations are given to extreme weather events such as heavy precipitation and flooding, heatwaves, drought, wildfires, and windstorms. These events, also known as climate stressors, can negatively impact safety, environmental, and economic losses. A wildfire is an unplanned, unwanted fire burning in a natural area, such as a forest, grassland, or prairie. Increased wildfire events from climate change are already impacting transportation agencies, as well as other local and national agencies. This study provides a concise review of the research studies conducted on the impact of wildfires on pavements. The direct impacts of wildfires such as cracking of surface layers, and damage to base and subgrade layers as well as indirect impacts of wildfires such as altering the terrain and interrupting the emergency response are included. Research gaps and recommendations for progress towards developing and deploying new solutions to make pavements more resilient against wildfires as well as preventive and recovery measures based on post-event assessments are also discussed.