Transportation System Resilience: CEO Primer & Engagement

The transportation community is focused on a new challenge facing the nation’s transportation systems. That challenge has become known as “resilience”: the nexus of preparing for the impacts of climate change (e.g., sea level rise, severe/extreme weather events) while responding to the catalog of system vulnerabilities and emergencies. Transportation agencies and others have slowly been developing a new appreciation for the challenges inherent in reconciling the similarities and distinctions among four inter-related topics: Critical Infrastructure, System Risk Management, Protection, and All Hazards Response. The development of a new strategy based on resilience includes a much broader range of options to help manage risks and recover from system disruptions. In this new paradigm, resilience does not replace the four concepts, but offers an overarching strategy that includes system risk management, protection, and preparedness as complementary strategies to prevent attacks and ward off threats, and adaptation, recovery, and other post-disruption strategies to restore normal transportation services. At the same time, transportation resilience can effectively support community resilience when transportation organizations plan for and accommodate unforeseen financial and economic conditions affecting system sustainability and regional economic conditions. System resiliency is ultimately a matter of context and connectedness and, much like safety, affects every major business function within a transportation agency including planning, project delivery, operations, and business management. The objectives of this project were to develop (1) a primer and (2) a series of briefings for state DOT CEOs and senior executives on transportation resilience. The final report is published as NCHRP Research Report 976: Resilience Primer for Transportation Executives. A companion accordion-fold handout is also available: Resilience in Your Pocket.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4260

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $300000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 20-59(55)

• Sponsor Organizations:

  American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Parker, Stephan

• Performing Organizations:

  Louis Berger and Associates, Incorporated

  100 Halsted Street
  East Orange, NJ  United States  07019
• Principal Investigators:

  Matherly, Deborah

• Start Date: 20170301
• Expected Completion Date: 20220331
• Actual Completion Date: 20220331
• Source Data: RiP Project 41295

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Climate change; Disaster preparedness; Disaster resilience; Environmental impacts; Evacuation; Executives; Hazard analysis; Risk management; State departments of transportation; Sustainable development
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Environment; Highways; Security and Emergencies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01618759
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 20-59(55)
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Dec 11 2016 10:19AM