Currently, infrastructure has become paramount in our daily lives. In every country, infrastructure determines the growth of its economic and social sectors. Over the last century, improvements in infrastructure have resulted in better standards of living. In spite of these benefits, environmental researchers suggest that the future advancements in infrastructure would result in numerous challenges. Currently, several countries are planning to invest massive resources in infrastructural developments.
In this regard, environmentalists assert that all the relevant stakeholders should address the future infrastructural challenges. By focusing on the future land-based transportation issues, this paper seeks to highlight challenges that would be faced by human beings in the year 2050.
At the present, the effects of climate change are widespread. According to environmentalists, by the year 2050 climate change will have increased in its intensity and occurrence. As such, climate change will ultimately have an effect on our land-based transport sectors. The increase in temperatures will affect transportation in a number of ways. Higher temperatures will lead to an expansion in the metals used in the railway lines and bridges.
As a result, bridges’ joints and the efficiency of our railway transport will be compromised. If the government fails to reconstruct our transport facilities to suit the current changes in climate, delays and accidents in the industry will be rampant by the year 2050. It is estimated that the world population in the year 2050 would be 9 billion. Owing to this factor, many individuals would be negatively affected by the situation.
Equally, recurring floods will affect both land-based transportation system and water infrastructures. In the coastal and lowland regions, climate change will result in unprecedented floods leading to an interruption in the flow of traffics. The flooding will not only interrupt traffic, but will also result in frequent infrastructure repairs and delays in construction. Similarly, bridges and motorway safety will be threatened by the consequences of climate change in the coming decades.
Personally, disruption in land-based transport systems will lead to delays, increase in the cost of travelling, and increase chances of being involved in disasters. Considering the fact that the world population would have increased significantly by the year 2050, implies that more time will be wasted travelling back and forth to the workplace. Since a significant amount of time will be spent on travelling, my production will be negatively affected leading to a decrease in my returns.
With the thoughts of future infrastructural challenges in mind, I wonder whether the challenges faced in land-based transportation system in the future will have significant effects on other infrastructural sectors. Equally, I cannot comprehend whether these challenges will reduce the economical gains achieved by then. With the ever-increasing consequences of climate change and the governments’ unwillingness to formulate appropriate mitigation measures, I wonder whether the looming risks are avoidable.
In my opinion, the threatening infrastructural challenges that would be faced by the year 2050 are real. In this regard, governments and relevant sectors must acknowledge the risks posed by these infrastructural challenges, and create and implement appropriate mitigation measures.
Similarly, environmental engineers should work together with other engineers in developing infrastructures that will sustain the risks resulting from climate change. Through this, the risks associated with the future infrastructural challenges will be reduced fostering sustainable economic growth at the present and in the future.