Goal

Anticipate, assess, and plan to respond to vulnerabilities and risks associated with current and future hazards (including those associated with climate change) to ensure multi-modal transportation system reliability and resiliency. Identify a range of vulnerability and risks to both existing and planned transportation infrastructure.

Sustainability Linkage

Planning for infrastructure resiliency in the face of potential hazards supports all of the triple bottom line principles by reducing spending on infrastructure replacement, improving the safety and security of multimodal transportation system users, and providing energy savings from long-lasting investments, among others.

Background & Scoring Requirements

Background

Helpful online references and tools for this criterion include FHWA’s Climate Adaptation Website¹ and FHWA’s Vulnerability Assessment Framework Website².

For the purposes of this credit, key terms are defined as follows:

• “Climate variability and change” refers to long-term variations in climate, such as changes in sea level, temperature, precipitation intensity, and coastal storms, among others. While sea level rise primarily affects coastal regions, changes in the frequency and intensity of warm/cold weather days, precipitation events (flooding/droughts), and storms can affect infrastructure throughout the United States.
• “Extreme weather events” refers to flooding, hurricanes, fires, droughts, and winter storms, for example.
• “Hazards” are conditions or circumstances that may result in undesirable outcomes. Natural hazards may include seismic and extreme weather events, and/or the effects of climate variability and change. Man-made hazards may include security threats or structural failures from terrorism.
• “Risk” is the potential for an unwanted outcome resulting from an event—in this case, a climate stressor or other hazard. It is determined by the product of (a) the likelihood of the impact, and (b) the consequence of the impact.
• “Risk Assessment” is an assessment of the likelihood and potential consequences of exposure to a hazard.
• “Vulnerability” in this context refers to the degree to which transportation infrastructure can be adversely affected by various hazards.
• “Vulnerability Assessment” is an assessment of the potential consequences of hazards on the durability and performance of specific transportation infrastructure (e.g., inundation of roads and enhanced scour of structures).

Climate Change and Resiliency Vulnerability and Risk Assessments

The following steps are part of a process of identifying potential climate change and natural hazards, evaluating the vulnerabilities of infrastructure posed by those hazards and performing a risk assessment to estimate the likelihood of such an event happening.

Hazard Identification

An important first step in evaluating and addressing infrastructure resiliency is the identification of potential hazards to the infrastructure system, such as seismic events, relative sea level rise, storm activity/intensity, temperature and heat waves, precipitation events, lake levels, stream flow, volcanism, etc. Subsequent to the identification of potential hazards, agencies typically perform an assessment of locations (and transportation infrastructure) and their respective severity of risk relative to the hazards identified. Severity is typically stated in terms of not vulnerable/at-risk, potentially vulnerable/at-risk, or vulnerable/at-risk assets, with potentially vulnerable and at-risk being the generally preferred terms.

Vulnerability Assessment

A vulnerability assessment focuses on how existing or planned transportation facilities may fare given current and future hazards. A vulnerability assessment should cover transportation assets in the planning area or a substantial subset of that area, as appropriate. Asset data on key existing and planned assets should be used. This could include elevations of the assets (not just the land), drainage capabilities, types of pavements and their ability to withstand excessive heat, more intense freeze-thaw cycles, and a variety of stress factors through time.

Investigating past events and resulting impacts can inform the assessment of vulnerabilities to seismic and storm events, and the impacts of long-term climate change effects. By comparing historical events with historical maintenance and repair needs, agencies can estimate how well specific assets might withstand certain stressors. For example, agencies could consider effects of past weather events on emergency response and evacuations required or on the services provided by an asset (e.g., changes in VMT and/or the value of goods transported).

The vulnerability assessment should include an assessment of all relevant natural hazards, not just climate related events. That said, FHWA’s Climate Adaptation website¹ has a section dedicated to Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Framework website² that has valuable tools and resources for performing this work.

Risk Assessment

A risk assessment is a method for estimating the likelihood of a particular impact resulting from a defined set of stressors, including climate change related impacts, and also assesses the consequences of the impact in terms of how they affect the surrounding community, metropolitan area, or state. 

Scoring Requirements

Requirement SPS-16.1

1 point. Conduct System-Level Assessment of Potential Hazards

This scoring requirement incorporates the elements of the Hazard Identification topic discussed in the Background section of this criterion. The agency has conducted a system-level assessment of potential hazards such as seismic events, relative sea level rise, storm activity/intensity, temperature and heat waves, precipitation events, lake levels, changes in stream flow, volcanism, etc.

Requirement SPS-16.2

2 or 3 points. Vulnerability Assessment

This scoring requirement incorporates the elements of the Vulnerability topic discussed in the Background section of this criterion. One of the following scores applies:

• 0 points. The agency has not conducted a vulnerability assessment of its assets.
• 2 points. The agency has identified locations potentially vulnerable or at risk of current and future hazards and has conducted a vulnerability assessment and considered hazard consequences for some of its planned, programmed, and existing facilities that were identified in the vulnerability assessment as potentially vulnerable and/or at risk.
• 3 points. The agency has identified locations potentially vulnerable or at risk of current and future hazards and has conducted a vulnerability assessment and considered hazard consequences on most of its planned, programmed, and existing facilities that were identified in the vulnerability assessment as potentially vulnerable and/or at risk.

Requirement SPS-16.3

2 or 3 points. Risk Assessment

This scoring requirement incorporates the elements of the Risk Assessment topic discussed in the Background section of this criterion. One of the following scores applies:

• 0 points. The agency has not conducted a risk assessment of its assets.
• 2 points. The agency has conducted a risk assessment for some of its planned, programmed, and existing facilities throughout the transportation system.
• 3 points. The agency has conducted a risk assessment and considered the consequences on most of its planned, programmed, and existing facilities throughout the transportation system.

Requirement SPS-16.4

2-4 points. Develop and Implement Adaptation and Resilience Strategies

Adaption and Resilience strategies are actions taken to respond to the vulnerabilities and risks associated with current and future hazards to ensure transportation system reliability and resiliency. Examples of strategies include, but are not limited to the relocation of critical infrastructure, evacuation route planning, and disaster preparedness programs, among others. Additional examples are available on the USDOT’s Climate Change & Impacts website³, in TRB’s E-C152: Adapting Transportation to the Impacts of Climate Change⁴, and FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Planning Risk Assessment website⁵. This requirement may be scored in proportion to the agency’s estimate of its progress toward meeting this requirement. One of the following scores applies:

• 0 points. The agency has not developed adaptation strategies.
• 1 point. The agency has developed, but not yet implemented, adaptation strategies to manage some of the impacts the agency can reasonably expect to occur.
• 2 points. The agency has developed, but not yet implemented, adaptation strategies to manage most of the impacts the agency can reasonably expect to occur.
• 3 points. The agency has developed and is implementing adaptation strategies to manage some of the impacts the agency can reasonably expect to occur based on its completed vulnerability and risk assessments. 
• 4 points. The agency has developed and is implementing adaptation strategies to manage most of the impacts the agency can reasonably expect to occur based on its completed vulnerability and risk assessments. 

Requirement SPS-16.5

2 points. Coordinate with Partner Agencies

The agency regularly coordinates with partner agencies within its jurisdiction throughout the transportation planning process, to reduce barriers and further the prospects for implementation of strategies to address infrastructure resiliency. This coordination utilizes institutional mechanisms such as ad hoc or standing committees.

Requirement SPS-16.6

2 points. Prioritize Investments

The agency has a formal mechanism to evaluate and prioritize infrastructure improvements that are identified as part of the risks identified in SPS 16.2 and SPS-16.3 and the strategies identified in SPS-16.4.

Resources

The following resources are referenced in this criterion and consolidated here:

1. FHWA, Climate Adaptation website, http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/
2. FHWA, Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Framework website, http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/adaptation_framework/
3. USDOT, Climate Change & Impacts website, https://www.transportation.gov/sustainability/climate/climate-change-impacts
4. TRB, E-C152: Adapting Transportation to the Impacts of Climate Change, http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/circulars/ec152.pdf
5. FEMA, Hazard Mitigation Planning Risk Assessment website, http://www.fema.gov/hazard-mitigation-planning-risk-assessment

Scoring Sources

The project is considered to have met this criterion if the requirements above can be reasonably substantiated through the existence of one or more of the following documentation sources (or equal where not available):

1. Transportation planning document(s) (LRTP, TIP/STIP, and/or UPWP) that contain evidence of the consideration of hazard identification, vulnerability assessment, risk assessment, and/or adaptation strategies.
2. Hazard Mitigation Plan(s).
3. Documentation of a vulnerability assessment of transportation infrastructure. This could include studies on the vulnerability of specific areas.
4. Documentation of a risk assessment of infrastructure. This should address the process used, an assessment of likelihood, and the resulting assessment of risk.