Beyond Bouncing Back: A Roundtable on Critical Transportation Resilience

Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference Center;Climate Change Clearinghouse2013PDFResearch PaperBell, EllenBarami, BaharJohn A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)United StatesInfrastructureRisk assessmentEnvironmental risk assessmentDisaster preparednessDisastersHazard mitigationAdaptation (Psychology)Climate changeResilienceResiliencyCritical transportation infrastructureClimate changeInterdependenciesDOT-VNTSC-RITA-13-02Global transportation infrastructure today is confronted with significant vulnerabilities \u2014 an aging infrastructure; a growing concentration of populations at high-density coastal urban areas; increasing interdependencies among the nation's physical and cyber infrastructures; co-location of many transportation systems with large-scale and potentially hazardous production facilities; and the escalating threats of climate change. Together, they have coalesced to create significant challenges for the nation's critical infrastructure systems. A framework for enhancing critical transportation infrastructure resiliency could serve as a roadmap for addressing some of these pressing global challenges. Recently, the concept of resiliency, however, has become a buzzword used to characterize a system that recovers rapidly from a disruption in order to resume normal functions. But, RESILIENCY IS MORE THAN BOUNCING BACK. The U.S. Department of Transportation's Volpe Center hosted a roundtable of experts to explore resiliency in the context of challenges facing the nation's transportation system. The experts concurred that resiliency requires a change in focus from near-perfect efficiency to planned redundancy, flexibility, fault-tolerance, and resourcefulness. A resilient transportation infrastructure will be able to anticipate threats\u2014both natural and man-made\u2014and will be able to absorb shocks and adapt to changing conditions. With a resilient approach, we can rebuild better and smarter, recognizing that no infrastructure exists in isolation. Resiliency will make our future infrastructure reliable, sustainable, and survivable.109