Expected

Fixing permafrost-thaw damage to roads, buildings, airports and railroads across the Arctic is expected to cost $276 billion by midcentury if carbon emissions ...

It calculated damages from a variety of climate-change impacts, including flooding and erosion as well as permafrost thaw, and it also extended to pipelines, which are not included in the new study. For Alaska airports, costs to replace sunken sections of runway will hit $3.4 billion by midcentury if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their present pace, according to the study’s mean estimate. [caused by thawing permafrost](https://dot.alaska.gov/traveltopics/building-in-permafrost.shtml) had reached $11 million a year in the state’s northern district alone. At current climate trends, the cost to replace thaw-damaged road sections will be over $19 billion by midcentury, according to the mean estimate. Streletskiy said addressing permafrost damage will require a variety of responses beyond long-term reductions in emissions and climate change. With cuts to emissions in line with the Paris agreement, that cost would be reduced to about $10 billion, according to the study. It also requires shorter-term improvements to planning, design, maintenance and training, he said. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics. By 2013, the department estimated, road-maintenance costs Replacing thaw-damaged buildings, both public and private structures, adds about another $3 billion by midcentury, according to the study. “My hope is that a lot of folks can do much better,” he said. The site, Goldstream Road, has been repaired in the past, but thaw problems persist.