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4 The focus of this project is on resilience in transportation planning, engineering, operations management, policy, and administration. The information details the motivations behind the policies that promote highway resilience, definitions of risk and resilience and the relation- ship between these two concepts, and how agencies are incorporating resilience practices through project development, policy, and design. Given the relative novelty of resilience in transportation, efforts in this report have been made to provide background information on various definitions of resilience that agencies have adopted, the relationship between risk and resilience, and how resilience is being incorporated within highway agencies. The findings of this report reflect information gathered through three primary sources: a thorough literature review, a survey of state DOTs, and five case examples developed through interviews and traditional data gathering with infrastructure agencies incorporating resilience into their programs. A purposeful attempt was made to focus the literature review specifically on resilience and not on associated topics of risk management or climate change modeling of transportation systems, as these topics have been well documented and are not the primary focus of this study. Efforts were concentrated on reviewing and including information that has been published in peer-reviewed sources and on documenting the evolution of the concept of resilience in transportation. Equally, the primary focus of the literature review is on highway transportation, though when information was missing on a particular topic, and other modes of transportation had more information available, this information from non-highway modal areas has been included to help provide the reader with a solid foundation of that particular topic. International studies were also included when relevant and to help bolster areas of the literature that might be lacking in domestic examples. Nearly 100 sources of information were used to develop this report. A national survey of state DOTs was conducted to supplement the literature review findings, identify applications of resilience within state DOTs, and document any challenges these agencies face when implementing their resilience practices. In addition, the survey was viewed as a screening tool to identify state DOTs that are addressing resilience and that might be interested in participating in a case example for the report. Given the lack of a home for resilience within highway agencies, the survey was sent to a range of offices, including operations, emergency management, asset management, planning, maintenance, and design. Efforts were made to identify potential survey respondents through AASHTO committee memberships, through presentations and publications made by state DOT representatives, and with the help of the NCHRP committee panel. Extensive efforts were made to increase survey participation through the identification of alternative contacts within those agencies who did not respond to the initial survey request, follow-up phone calls, and in-person deliv- ery of requests at various conferences. In the end, 40 state DOTs participated in the survey for a response rate of 80%. C H A P T E R 1 Introduction
Introduction 5 Finally, five case examples were developed to document the various activities infrastruc- ture agencies are deploying to include resilience in their policies, planning, design standards, and maintenance activities. At the request of the project panel, efforts were made to document endeavors outside of the state DOT realm, and case examples were developed for a multimodal port and a metropolitan planning organization (MPO). The case examples include Arizona DOT (ADOT), Colorado DOT (CDOT), Delaware DOT (DelDOT), the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), and the Genesee Transportation Council (GTC) in the State of New York. The case examples capture the lessons learned from each agency with regard to resilience policy, modeling, inclusion in design standards and practice, and unique mechanisms being used to fund resilience practices. This study used multiple methods to gather information related to the use of resilient practices in highway systems, including the following: ⢠A literature review of state, local, and international practices related to resilience in transportation; ⢠A survey of highway agency staff working on resilience efforts within their agency; and ⢠Interviews with highway agency staff to document their resilience efforts. Information gathered has been incorporated into the following structure within this report: ⢠Chapter 2 addresses resilience policies in transportation; ⢠Chapter 3 explores resilience definitions, metrics, and frameworks; ⢠Chapter 4 examines the resilience survey of state DOTs; ⢠Chapter 5 shares case examples; and ⢠Chapter 6 highlights conclusions, findings, and suggestions for future research.
