The Hidden Cost of Heat: Impacts to Bridges

Extreme heat is increasingly causing disruptions to critical infrastructure across sectors. With more frequent and intense heatwaves, infrastructure designed for milder conditions is being stressed beyond its capacity, resulting in higher maintenance demands and limited effectiveness of mitigation measures.

This research was supported in part by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Program Office/National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) under Award Number 2025-03-07519. This report was also made possible with support from The Rockefeller Foundation. The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of The Rockefeller Foundation. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by NOAA, NIHHIS, and The Rockefeller Foundation, which made this work possible.