A System-of-Systems Approach for Integrated Resilience Assessment in Highway Transportation Infrastructure Investment

The objective of this paper is to propose a System-of-Systems (SoS) approach for an integrated assessment of resilience in civil transportation infrastructure in the U.S. A SoS approach is adopted for systemic assessment. Data obtained from case studies of two recent natural disasters in the U.S. are utilized to explore the status quo, key players and interactions, and the drivers to and barriers of improving resilience in transportation infrastructure systems. The findings indicate that strategies for enhancing resilience in transportation infrastructure systems include redistributing the available funding through a special funding vehicle, using resilience-based performance measures, and integrating the efforts of different stakeholders. The SoS approach along with the findings from the case studies provides an analytical tool for understanding the dynamics of resilience in infrastructure systems. Such understanding could lead to identifying strategies for enhancing resilience in infrastructure systems. The study presented in this paper provides new insights to identify the determinants of resilience in highway transportation infrastructure based on a SoS approach.