Mainstreaming System Resilience Concepts into Transportation Agencies: A Guide (2021)

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1   Transportation officials throughout the country are considering transportation system resilience to any form of disruption as a critical component of their agency’s policy and program decision-making. This is due primarily to a recognition that a reliable and sustain- able transportation system is needed to fulfill their agency’s mission and goals. In addition, however, as has been seen in many major system disruptions, the public’s perception of the effectiveness of their agency often relates to how the agency responds to small and large disruptions. The purpose of this guide is to provide transportation officials with a self-assessment tool to assess the current status of an agency’s efforts to improve the resilience of the transportation system through the mainstreaming of resilience concepts into agency decision-making and procedures. The tool can be applied to a broad array of natural and human-caused threats to transportation systems and services. It focuses on such threats and describes actions to minimize the consequences of the related disruptions. The guide looks at resilience not only from an agency perspective (and thus focuses on the types of responsibilities these agencies have) but also from a societal perspective. This latter perspective introduces into the assessment such issues as the transportation-related economic, social, public health, and financial implications of system disruptions. The self-assessment tool is based on a resilience framework, the Framework for Enhancing Agency Resilience to Natural and Anthropogenic Hazards and Threats (FEAR-NAHT), hereafter referred to as the Framework. The Framework consists of the following steps: Step 1: Assess Current Practice Step 2: Organize for Success Step 3: Develop an External Communications Strategy and Plan Step 4: Implement Early Wins Step 5: Understand the Hazards and Threats Step 6: Understand the Impacts Step 7: Determine Vulnerability and Prioritize Responses Step 8: Identify Actions to Enhance Resilience Step 8A: Assess Strategies for Enhancing Emergency Response Capabilities and Agency Preparedness 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 Step 9: Program and Implement Resilience Measures Step 10: Monitor and Manage System Performance S U M M A R Y Mainstreaming System Resilience Concepts into Transportation Agencies: A Guide

2 Mainstreaming System Resilience Concepts into Transportation Agencies: A Guide The self-assessment tool consists of a set of questions relating to an agency’s capabilities on each step. For example, for Step 8A: Assess Strategies for Enhancing Emergency Response Capabilities and Agency Preparedness, questions are asked concerning an agency’s efforts to identify and improve its current efforts at providing emergency response to major dis- ruptions. The tool allows the users to score on a scale from 1 to 3 on how well their agency is doing with each factor. An overall score for each step and for the entire agency allows managers to (1) assess the current status of the agency’s capabilities for improving trans- portation system resilience and (2) identify actions that could be taken to enhance their capabilities. The guide also provides guidance on how individual, functional responsibilities in a transportation agency can be improved. Recommended actions are provided for: • Policy Development/Agency Leadership and Management • Planning • Project Development/Engineering • System and Traffic Operations • Construction • Maintenance • Asset Management • Emergency Response, Agency Preparedness, and Cybersecurity • Public Outreach/Communications Each self-assessment step provides very specific recommended actions targeted for that step. Additionally, the following themes run throughout the guide. • Collaboration – Given the multi-agency, multi-participant, and multi-disciplinary nature of many resilience actions and efforts, many of the factors emphasize the level to which your agency has made an effort to collaborate with partner agencies and other groups. • Communication – Partly due to the need for collaboration as noted above, but also recognizing the importance of external communication to inform key stakeholders and constituency groups, many factors focus on the degree to which your agency’s com- munication strategy is effective and inclusive of the many different resilience roles and contributions of your agency. • Data collection and analysis – Given that resilience projects and strategies will compete with other demands for resources in your agency, many of the assessment factors focus on the need to provide evidence-based information that justifies resilience investment. • Hazard and threat assessment – By its very nature, system resilience reflects the degree to which a transportation system can withstand stresses placed upon it. Whether such stresses occur today (e.g., riverine floods that close major highways) or whether they are part of a long-term trend (e.g., sea level rise), mainstreaming resilience efforts into an agency’s functions requires an understanding of the nature, scope, and magnitude of expected system disruptions. The term “hazards” is used in the guide to refer to trans- portation stresses caused from natural sources (e.g., flooding or wildfire hazards). The term “threats” is used in the guide to refer to transportation system stresses caused from human sources (e.g., cyberattacks). • Institutional capacity – Mainstreaming any effort, action, or initiative in an agency requires institutionalizing it in the organizational structure, considering how leaders use information, and evaluating how standard operating procedures can be changed to lead to the desired results. Many of the self-assessment factors relate to how resilience concepts and efforts have been institutionalized (that is, mainstreamed) into the struc- ture of your agency.

Summary 3   • Leadership – Most transportation agencies are structured in a hierarchy with very clear lines of authority and responsibility. Thus, many of the self-assessment factors reflect the degree to which an agency’s leadership is directing, supporting, and adopting resilience initiatives. Without leadership support, significant improvement is unlikely. • Professional training and professional development – Providing resilience-related training and professional development opportunities for staff in different functional areas is an important strategy for improving the human resource capabilities of your agency in promoting resilience-oriented actions.