Extreme heat is one of the main culprits impacting the service and reliability of metropolitan Washington’s multimodal transportation system. With record-breaking extreme heat days pummeling the National Capital Region, transportation planners are seeking remedies that regional partners can implement to help reduce and beat the effect of extreme heat on transportation infrastructure.  

In its 2026 Extreme Heat Analysis, developed in partnership with ICF, the TPB provides guidance on a variety of heat-related issues to inform transit agencies and local officials on strategies to enhance the resilience and adaptive capacity of the region’s multimodal transportation network. In the analysis, the TPB asked three questions: (1) What are the potential impacts of extreme heat on transportation systems and users? (2) Where might transit systems and users be most exposed to extreme heat? And (3) How can TPB provide resources that guide how the region might adapt to these impacts? The results to these questions are delivered in a toolkit with four interrelated but independent products to assist local jurisdictions in planning for the impacts of extreme heat. 

The National Capital Region Extreme Heat Toolkit for Transportation Planning includes:  

Item A: the Transit Infrastructure Resilience Analysis 

Item B: the Best Practice Design Guidance 

Item C: Grant Application Support 

Item D: Model Policy Language 

Item A: the Transit Infrastructure Resilience Analysis, which assessed the past, projected, and downstream impacts of extreme heat on rail operations and ridership, specifically observing two cases, Washington Metropolitan Metro Authority (WMATA), and Virginia Railway Express (VRE), to inform future resilience efforts. The analysis found that during extreme heat days there isn’t only ridership loss, but adverse health risks, infrastructure damage, system disruptions, lost fare revenue, and high operational costs.  

By 2030, the region is projected to experience 65 extreme heat days per year, potentially costing WMATA $2.8 million and VRE $67,000 in lost annual fare revenue. By 2050, that number increases to 87 extreme heat days per year, with projected losses climbing to $4.6 million for WMATA and $167,000 for VRE. As the projections show, the stakes are significant and growing. Without action, the region will not be able to alleviate fare revenue loss. Investing in innovative cooling solutions now offers a direct path to protecting ridership, stabilizing revenue, and ensuring that the region's transit network remains viable as temperatures rise. 

Item B: the Best Practice Design Guidance shares best practices and design guidelines for cooling solutions in bus station areas, streetscapes, and trailhead plazas, helping minimize residents’ exposure to heat. Some of the cooling interventions in streetscapes that local jurisdictions can implement are to add multiple species of trees, step-out areas with shaded benches, and permeable pavers. In Bus Station Areas, adding trees, groundcover, seating, and shade structures will keep residents cool while waiting for the bus. In trailhead plazas, shaded structures, and water features will continue to cool residents as they bike or walk around the neighborhood.  

The third product of the toolkit is Item C: Grant Application Support. It is a grant matrix that helps agencies identify and develop strong applications for funding opportunities. This will assist staff from local jurisdictions proactively plan for the submittal of grant applications.  

The last product of the toolkit is Item D: Model Policy Language. This product helps local jurisdictions find the best policy and planning language for their design guidelines, standards, and request for proposals (RFPs) to promote the use of cooling strategies. The deliverable is boilerplate policy language for five use cases that would promote the use of cooling strategies in development projects.  

Next Steps 

Next steps for the Transportation Planning Board members and their planning staff are: 

• Explore applicable design guidelines and policy recommendations  
• Identify projects that could benefit from resilience funding 
• Work towards pursuing those funding opportunities 
• Incorporate heat resilience into ongoing planning and capital programs by referencing guidance use cases and local examples 
• Share successes and challenges with regional partners and help identify where a regional approach could provide additional value.  

With the continuation of extreme heat, the best way to beat the heat is to work on cooling solutions together with partners from across sectors. We’d like to hear back on how your community plans to use the toolkit or is implementing transit service and design features to help passengers and operators beat the heat! Learn more and share toolkit to help identify and adapt to extreme heat risks in your local jurisdiction.  

Want to learn more? Watch our video on extreme heats impact on our transit system.