A Proposed Framework for the Incorporation of Economic Resilience into Transportation Decision Making

Abstract

The profound effects of the Great Recession sparked not only research in terms of the definition and characterization of resilience to economic shocks, but also policy-making discussions about building more resilient economies. Nonetheless, whereas regional economic resilience is frequently discussed in the political and research agenda for civil infrastructure, project-level analysis integrating resilience into decision making is still scarce even though the built environment, and in particular transportation systems, are recognized as crucial elements affecting regional economic resilience. Consequently, the assessment of the role of transportation infrastructure in economic resilience is limited. This paper discusses literature on the intersection between transportation and economic resilience planning, describes the findings from an expert opinion survey about economic resilience and transportation, and proposes a theoretical framework to incorporate resilience indicators into the decision-making process for transportation projects at the sketch-planning level (i.e., the initial level of decision making). A case study for State Road 3 (SR-03) in Indiana is presented to demonstrate an application of the conceptual framework. The survey revealed that experts are aware of the concept of economic resilience, but the concept is not necessarily applied in transportation planning. In addition, the reviewed studies and survey results showed that planning for economic resilience requires the consideration of regional characteristics, including industrial diversity and human capital, in addition to transportation accessibility.