The American Lifelines Alliance Approach: Four Years of Progress and Future Directions

Abstract

The American Lifelines Alliance project (ALA) was initiated in 1998 with support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with the primary goal of improving the performance of key utility and transportation lifeline systems (electric power, telecommunication, water, waste water, oil, natural gas, rail, and shipping ports) in natural hazards. ALA has not attempted to focus efforts on all lifeline systems but has instead chosen to place priority on specific topics relevant to selected lifeline systems where a need for improved hazard mitigation practices is identified. The goals and strategy adopted by ALA were introduced in a presentation at the 1999 TCLEE conference. Since 1999, ALA has successfully sought out sponsoring organizations to provide direct or in-kind support to ALA planning and project activities and expanded the ALA project team to include individuals representing a broader cross-section of lifelines stakeholders. In addition to FEMA, the number of organizations that have sponsored ALA includes the Department of the Interior, the Department of Transportation, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Pima County Waste Management, Rohn Industries and the U.S. Geological Survey. In the four years since it's inception, ALA has made significant progress in improving the practice of engineering lifeline systems for natural hazards. Most notably, ALA projects have resulted in new, or modifications to existing, national consensus guidelines and standards from ANSI-approved standards organizations including the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Society of Testing and Materials, and American Water Works Association and industry standard organizations including the American Petroleum Institute and the American Railway Engineers and Maintenance-of-Way Association.