Poster 20-12

INCORPORATING RESILIENCE CAPABILITIES INTO LONG-RANGE TRANSPORTATION PLANS: FLEXIBILITY AND AGILITY

PI: Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy

Co-PI(s): 

Institution(s): Georgia Institute of Technology

Abstract

Transportation systems are key to supporting the safety and mobility of urban and rural populations and are part of overall infrastructure systems that also include water facilities, electricity and power plants, communication networks, and others. These vital systems are affected by changes to the environment, political systems, and technological landscapes in which they operate. Recently, COVID-19 showed that there are unknown threats that can disrupt infrastructure planning, funding, design, construction, usage, and many other critical components of transportation systems. Simultaneously, transportation planners are faced with changing conditions due to increasing frequency of extreme weather events, varying demands from increasingly diverse populations, and shifting funding needs and sources. The dynamic conditions and emerging complex challenges will impact the way that agencies write and design their long-range transportation plans (LRTPs). Flexibility and agility are qualities that have emerged in the literature as ways to increase resilience in transportation planning, but there are currently no formalized pathways for incorporating flexibility and agility into long-range transportation planning. This research creates a framework for organizations to adopt these qualities into their planning processes. This research develops a tool to easily incorporate these qualities into LRTP development and evaluates GDOT?s Statewide Strategic Transportation Plan from 2021 for gaps and opportunities to increase flexibility and agility. Based on the evaluation, specific recommendations are provided to GDOT to support the development of these capabilities.

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