Overview
Resiliency of the transportation system has many facets that affect Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) in both asset development and implementation as well as execution of activities to respond and mitigate events. The term resiliency can be defined in a number of different ways depending on the type of organization and affected communities. In the transportation field there are two definitions that in combination capture the variety of elements to be considered:
- FHWA defines resilience as, “the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to changing conditions and withstand, respond to, and recover rapidly from disruptions.”
- AASHTO defines resilience as, “the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, or more successfully adapt to adverse events.”
Resilience can be applied to large or unexpected but widespread events, such as weather and natural disasters, and can also be more narrowly focused toward specific events or projects. At the most basic level resiliency is about the planning and actions an agency can take before, during, and after different types of adverse events that affect infrastructure and technology assets, processes, organization and workforce.