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111  Identify Actions to Enhance Resilience (Step 8) Step 8 represents one of the most important steps in the Framework. This step focuses on actions for improv- ing system operations and improving asset design and management that collectively lead to a more resilient transportation system. Four substeps in Step 8 reflect these types of actions: ⢠Step 8A: Assess Strategies for Enhancing Emergency Response Capabilities ⢠Step 8B: Identify Enhancements to Operations and Maintenance Activities ⢠Step 8C: Undertake Detailed Assessments of Exposed Assets and New Projects ⢠Step 8D: Integrate into Asset Management Three of these stepsâ8A, 8B, and 8Câfor emergency response, operations and mainte- nance, and resilience assessments of exposed and new projects, are considered to be the major resilience-related products of a transportation agency. Conducting a self-assessment of your agencyâs efforts in these three areas is thus considered an important ingredient for improving the current resilience-related efforts of your agency. Step 8D on integrating resilience concepts into an agencyâs asset management program reflects the importance of asset management information for the types of decisions made by agency managers. Five observations on these steps and how they fit into the Framework are important for understanding the logic of how Step 8 relates to the other steps in the tool. 1. The systems-level vulnerability analysis results from Step 7 should inform all substeps under Step 8. 2. The steps within Step 8 are interconnected. For example, some of the maintenance actions that are discussed in Step 8B should be integrated into the asset management system per Step 8D. 3. There are four paths for assets to reach Step 8C for a detailed facility-level assessment of adaptation options: a. The first pathway is directly from Step 7, whereby the most vulnerable existing assets get studied for adaptation/mitigation options first. This pathway allows for immediate action meant primarily to address critical deficiencies related to resiliency. This special focus on resiliency and adaptation is warranted due to the safety issues such hazards/threats represent, their potentially existential threat to assets, and the sheer number of impacts that climate change will bring. b. An alternate pathway to Step 8C is through your agencyâs asset management program. Here, vulnerability information should be combined with other factors related to asset C H A P T E R  1 0
112 Mainstreaming System Resilience Concepts into Transportation Agencies: A Guide performance and conditions to identify capital improvement projects. Each of these capital improvement projects should receive a detailed assessment. c. All new capital projects (e.g., a new road alignment) and major upgrades to existing assets (due to capacity expansion, etc.) should also undergo detailed assessments. d. Lastly, there is also a feedback loop from Step 10: Monitor and Manage System Performance to Step 8 as illustrated in Figure 1. This allows for assets that had previously been given detailed assessments (Step 8C) and adapted to then obtain a follow-up analysis if con- ditions change, and the adaptation/mitigation measures are not performing as planned. Also, some adaptation options involve evolving an assetâs design over time as conditions warrant (an adaptive management approach); this feedback indicates the need for monitoring and revisiting the design stage. These feedback loops should also influence other substeps in Step 8. For example, your agencyâs system monitoring program might indicate a higher-than-normal road closure trend due to flooding in a particular area that could feed into changes to your agencyâs operations and maintenance efforts in Step 8B. 4. As noted earlier, Step 8D is included in Step 8 because of the importance of asset manage- ment systems and programs in establishing priorities for system investment. The Step 8D self-assessment focuses on how to make the asset management process more inclusive of resilience factors when providing information to decision-makers on how budgets are to be allocated. However, asset management data collection efforts could also be an opportunity to provide more information on asset characteristics to enable more detailed systems-level vulnerability assessments in Steps 5 through 7 (hence the double-headed arrow from Step 8 to the âRevisit Analysis in the Futureâ flowline that leads back to Step 5 in Figure 1). The Step 8D self-assessment includes factors that reflect this potential for asset management to play such a role. 5. The results of the Step 8 tasks feed into the capital investment program and operating budgets for the different resilience-oriented units in your agency (Step 9). A major indication that your agency is becoming more sensitive to resilience concerns is the actual implementation of resilience projects and operating/maintenance strategies. Step 8 provides the information that will justify such expenditure as well as provides guidance on the types of project designs and operations strategies that will enhance system resilience. The following chapters provide more detail on how each of the Step 8 substeps can contribute to your agencyâs resilience strategy.
