Addressing extreme weather in transportation asset management plans: a US perspective

As the US experiences increased losses due to extreme weather and climate change–related events, it has become important for transportation agencies, such as state Departments of Transportation (DOTs), to manage transportation networks with resiliency in mind. State DOTs have begun to leverage transportation asset management (TAM) practices, documented in transportation asset management plans (TAMPs), to address resilience. This paper provides a synthesis of existing practices, as documented within the most recent iteration of state TAMPs, used to address extreme weather, climate change, and resilience. Forty-five Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Federal Highway Administration–compliant TAMPs were reviewed. The most common resilience activities from the review were categorised into six key categories identified in the National Cooperative Highway Research Programme (NCHRP) Research Report 1052: leadership and agency structure, capacity and competency, collaboration and communication, resource requirements, risk and resilience (RnR) assessment, and business processes. This research also identified gaps in resilience planning by comparing practices described in state TAMPs with best practices identified in NCHRP Research Report 1052. The review uncovered three key areas that would benefit from additional research and development: (1) conduct scenario planning to advance transportation system resilience, (2) develop/adopt RnR performance measures, and (3) develop/adopt definitions for RnR.