Resilience Primer for Transportation Executives (2021)

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24 The development of a new strategy based on resilience includes a broad range of options to help manage risks and recover from system disruptions. In this new paradigm, resilience . . . offers instead an overarching strategy that includes risk management, protection, and preparedness as complementary strategies to prevent attacks and to identify and ward off additional threats; [and] adaptation, recovery, and other post-disruption strategies to restore normal transportation services. —Understanding Transportation Resilience (AASHTO 2017) Definitions of Resilience Defining Resilience The general concept of resilience has existed for decades in transportation. In recent years, numerous weather-related and other natural disasters, high-profile incidents, and system failures have made resilience a critical focus for transportation reliability and safety. Resilience can be defined as “the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, or more successfully adapt to adverse events” (Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative, National Research Council, National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2012). FHWA Order 5520 has a similar definition: “the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to changing conditions and withstand, respond to, and recover rapidly from disruptions.” Through its Standing Committee on Research (SCOR), AASHTO highlighted what this means for transportation agencies: “When we speak of resilience in the transportation sense, we mean the ability of the transportation system to recover and regain functionality after a major disruption or disaster.” Some transportation agencies use definitions of resilience described in state law or other state plans or policies. However resilience is defined, for transportation agencies, the word has some fundamental concepts in common. Most include the concept of bouncing back—the ability to recover or return to a pre-event condition or level of service after an event. Usually, part of resilience is the idea of the ability to absorb shocks, to be able to lessen or mitigate the consequences of an event and respond quickly after the event with the restoration of services. One important concept that is not always included in all definitions is positive adaptability or “evolutionary resilience” that emphasizes preemptive action, learning from experience, preparing and “bouncing forward,” and anticipating and adapting to future events. These core ideas of resilience—anticipating, adapting, preparing, and bouncing back from disruption even stronger than before—apply to every aspect of a transportation agency. DOT Definitions of Resilience Some transportation agencies use definitions for resilience described in state law or other state plans or policies. Other agencies may need to define resilience in agency-specific terms, ones that best reflect your organization’s responsibilities and needs. You may need to lead your agency toward its own useful definitions. For instance, while some DOTs are focused on storm surges and sea level rise, others may be concerned with heat island effects that cause rail buckling and asphalt softening. Table A-1 presents examples of DOT definitions of resilience. A P P E N D I X A

Definitions of Resilience 25   Department of Transportation Definition and Source Delaware DOT Uses concept that outlines resilience practices to help mitigate climate impacts and reduce emissions. (Delaware Executive Order 41) Colorado DOT “The ability of communities to rebound, positively adapt to or thrive amidst changing conditions or challenges—including disasters and climate change— and maintain quality of life, healthy growth, durable systems, and conservation of resources for present and future generations.” (Governor’s Resiliency Framework, Colorado Resiliency and Recovery Office, 2015) New York State DOT Resilience is the ability of a system to withstand shocks and stresses while still maintaining its essential functions. . . . The building blocks of resilience include having spare capacity, staying flexible, managing failures, rebounding quickly, and improving continuously, not just when disaster strikes. (NYS 2100 Commission) Oregon DOT “To achieve rapid recovery, require government continuity, resilient physical infrastructure, and business continuity.” (Oregon Highways Seismic Plus Report, Oregon DOT, 2014) Arizona DOT Developed a Resilience Program to support its mission to provide a safe, efficient, cost-effective transportation system that cannot be compromised by the effects of heat extremes, dust storms, wildfires, flooding, landslides, rockfall incidents, and slope failures and to cope with the ever-growing cost of these threats. Tennessee DOT Uses the terms “flexible” and “proactive.” “Making decisions in a way not always done in normal situations and doing things not how they’ve always been done. . . . Another way to think about resilience is working through and making adjustments.” (Interview) Utah DOT “We prefer words such as ‘adaptations.’” (Interview) Source: Survey of state highway agencies conducted as part of NCHRP Synthesis 20-05, Topic 48-13, “Resilience in Transportation Planning, Engineering, Management, Policy, and Administration” (2017) and interviews with department of transportation CEOs. Table A-1. Examples of DOT definitions of resilience.