Who pays when overheated roads melt and rails buckle?

heatwaves come and go, and while this is happening with increasing frequency and intensity – as this year’s record-breaking temperatures show – they slip from attention once things cool off. What does not disappear is the lasting and costly damage they do to the basic infrastructure we rely on in our daily lives.Ultra-hot days and nights can result in the deaths of many people (those who cannot afford air conditioning especially) and they ignite forest infernos of terrifying intensity. Some of these make the news but what does not usually make headlines is the damage to roads, railways, bridges and other infrastructure.Yet the cost is there, mounting more rapidly as each sweltering summer arrives – and it will have to be paid for by current and future generations. It is a cost that could eventually run into trillions of dollars.