NCHRP 08-146: Integrating Resiliency into Transportation System Operations

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

In association with Metro Analytics, JFA staff led development of the research plan for NCHRP 08-146: Integrating Resiliency into Transportation System Operations, demonstrating a proven capacity to integrate systemic operational resilience into transportation networks. The project addressed the critical need for a revised approach to operational resiliency, recognizing that historical “all-hazards” plans often fail to account for the unique, cascading nature of modern disruptions, and used this approach to address the challenge of managing “unknown” events where traditional infrastructure-heavy solutions are often cost-prohibitive or physically infeasible.

The team executed a multi-phase approach including a comprehensive literature search and industry survey, systemic nexus modeling to map how physical and virtual infrastructure failures cascade into broader urban crises, and stakeholder engagement to ground-truth technical models against real-world operational experience. The research produced a suite of actionable results, including an industry-wide Resiliency Toolkit, a Communications and Implementation Plan to help agencies build a “culture of resiliency,” and evidence-based implementation guidance allowing agencies to document, audit, and proactively improve their operational procedures.