Transportation System Resilience

Abstract

The research and the practice associated with the development of resilient transportation systems have, to date, focused largely on the characterization and reduction of the vulnerability of transportation systems and the impacts of disruptive events on system users. Emerging evidence, however, suggests that a move from a technical focus to a sociotechnical focus has the potential to enhance the resilience of built systems and the societies that they serve. This paper first reviews the literature on the resilience of the transportation system to characterize the nature of approaches to the development of resilience in the transportation system. The paper offers examples of cases that provide evidence of the added benefits associated with a move from a largely technical approach to a sociotechnical approach. Subsequently, the paper reviews the literature on resilience in social, ecological, and economic systems to identify opportunities for expanding the scope of existing approaches to develop resilience in the transportation system and offer operational pathways forward. The review findings indicate that the following concepts may be applied to enhance the development of resilience in the transportation system: adaptive behavior and multiple equilibrium states from resilience in ecological systems; vulnerability, adaptive capacity, and participative capacity from resilience in social systems; a multiscale approach to resilience; and static and dynamic resilience in economic systems. Overall systematic efforts toward the development of institutional, organizational, social, and financial capital with influences on the resilience of the transportation system would also enhance the development of resilience in the transportation system.