A Pandemic Playbook for Transportation Agencies (2021)

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1 A Pandemic Playbook for Transportation Agencies NCHRP Research Report 963/TCRP Research Report 225: A Pandemic Playbook for Trans- portation Agencies (Playbook) is a practical guide for managing a transportation agency’s response to a pandemic. It concentrates on what needs to be done, when, and by whom. For agencies starting or revising their pandemic plan, the Playbook provides an overview of the characteristics of pandemics and their differences from other hazards, gives optional approaches to developing plans and programs, and identifies key questions to ask and decisions to make. It identifies the other organizations agencies are likely to encounter during a pandemic and approaches for working together. The challenges agencies and their leaders are likely to experience during a pandemic include the following: • Lack of confidence on the part of the traveling public; • Morale and trust issues with employees; • Possible loss of team bonds among staff; • Stress and psychological considerations for staff, families, and community members; • Increased expenses and reduced income; and • Unintended consequences of response actions. For agencies in the midst of a pandemic, the Playbook provides plays for agencies and their leaders to consider. These plays were developed on the basis of domestic and inter­ national research and interviews with key transportation leaders from organizations large and small throughout the United States during the COVID­19 pandemic. The resource­ fulness and innovation demonstrated as agencies rose to serve their communities during an unprecedented crisis has been amazing and inspiring. Many of these innovations are highlighted as “Exceptional Ideas” within the individual plays. The Playbook concludes with insights for moving into the future. As the Playbook was being written (September 2020), there was no end in sight for the COVID­19 pandemic. Organizations now must sustain operations into the foreseeable future and continue both to adapt to present conditions and to create longer­term plans. The Playbook includes a play for agency stabilization to assist in sustained operations. Essentials and Key Points • For transportation agencies, the response to a pandemic emergency is different from the response to other events in terms of – Timeline (extended and indeterminate rather than finite), – Impacts (no infrastructure impacts, but profound employee, community, and economic impacts), and – Transportation agency roles (support for health and other agencies). S U M M A R Y Recognize the existence of the new environment. Evaluate challenges and opportunities. Need to adapt to resource constraints. Speak the truth. Plan accordingly. Do the right thing. Operate, then reevaluate. R E N S P D O Jim Archer, Director, Service Planning, Scheduling, and Evaluation, Houston Metro

2 A Pandemic Playbook for Transportation Agencies • Having the right people in place in a pandemic—including an industrial hygienist or other medical professional—to provide guidance and credibility to the agency’s mitigation and response efforts is important. • Departments of transportation (DOTs) and transit agencies may have to adjust their working relationships and employee policies, from how work crews can travel together to a work site, to how transit operators interact with passengers, to closing facilities and enabling widescale work­from­home policies, to how transportation emergency managers interact with their counterparts within the agency and in the state emergency operations center (EOC). • Transportation agencies must avoid becoming a vector for the pandemic. To protect employees and the traveling public, agencies should review all areas on the system that may be transmission points, such as roadside rest areas, scenic viewpoints, and employee or public gathering places. • The extended, indeterminate timeline of a pandemic can lead to employee burnout and public complacency and noncompliance with protective measures. An extended timeline also complicates the response to more common disasters such as hurricanes, wildfires, heat events, tornadoes, flooding, and blizzards. • DOTs and transit agencies may engage in nontraditional but important support roles, such as providing essential equipment, food, and prescription deliveries; logistics support; screening of passengers and highway visitors; traffic management for mass testing sites; and even contact tracing and helping with unemployment claims. • The adverse impacts of COVID­19 have been proportionately much greater on tradi­ tionally underserved populations and people of color than on traditionally privileged communities. Agencies generate and influence social and environmental justice impacts and unintended consequences, positive and negative, through their actions and inactions in pandemic response. • Responding to a pandemic emphasizes an agency’s need to balance safety with service— a challenge transportation agencies wrestle with every day. Major challenges experienced during the COVID­19 pandemic provide kernels of opportunities for agencies to emerge stronger, more resilient, more compassionate, and more connected as agencies and as individuals. • Potential silver linings include the ability to advance projects, pursue mainstream innova­ tions, and establish more widescale and regular employee interactions. How to Use This Playbook The goal of this Playbook is to help senior managers and emergency managers in trans­ portation agencies understand, plan, and implement an emergency management program to address COVID­19 and future pandemics. It provides useful information to help guide surface transportation agency decision making and response. Chapter 1 provides an overview of pandemics and their impacts on transportation, common approaches to responding to a pandemic, and key elements of planning for pandemic. Key questions to ask are provided in Chapter 2 to help agencies develop policies, priorities, and approaches that fit their needs, capabilities, and challenges. Chapter 3 presents an overview of key roles and associated responsibilities in the response to a pandemic. Chapter 4 addresses the challenges transportation agencies have encountered during pandemics and approaches to addressing them.

Summary 3 Chapter 5 contains a series of emergency management plays—key capabilities and activities by mission area—that recommend solutions and approaches transportation agencies can use to assess and improve their currently existing processes and procedures and address gaps. Finally, Chapter 6 provides conclusions and information about moving forward into the future. Appendices A through E contain additional resources and references.