A Guide for Advancing Weather-Resilient Infrastructure Investment in Airports

Airports face growing challenges in planning, supporting, and prioritizing investments that strengthen infrastructure resilience. These challenges are compounded by the need to coordinate with diverse stakeholders and funding partners, as well as the limited availability of case studies that clearly demonstrate effective resilience strategies and their benefits. Extreme weather, in the near, medium, and long term, can impact airport infrastructure and lead to disruptions in operations. In weather conditions such as hurricanes, airports may be expected to serve as emergency evacuation areas or continue operations throughout the event. To maintain operational continuity during and immediately after such events, airports must invest in facilities designed to withstand adverse weather impact. A comprehensive resource that highlights these cases is needed. Additionally, providing information on best practices, tools, methodologies, and technologies will help reduce uncertainties surrounding funding initiatives. Research is needed to provide airport practitioners with the financial insights and decision-support tools necessary to secure funding and support for resilience infrastructure improvements that ultimately enhance the ability of airports to prepare for, withstand, and recover from weather-related impacts. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research is to develop a guide that helps airport practitioners justify and prioritize investments related to weather-resilient infrastructure. The guide will utilize existing tools, technologies, and methodologies to validate and convey the financial benefits of developing or updating airport facilities to enhance their resilience against weather events. The guide will be supported with a WebResource for developing a business case, with interactive modules and a logical workflow.

• Record URL:
  • http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5950
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

• English

Project

• Funding: $450,000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 03-83

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP)

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

  Federal Aviation Administration

  800 Independence Avenue, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20591
• Project Managers:

  Picciano, Tara

• Start Date: 20250525
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Airports; Disaster resilience; Infrastructure; Investments; Transportation planning; Weather
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Finance; Planning and Forecasting; Security and Emergencies; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01962998
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 03-83
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Aug 12 2025 10:09AM