The committee will identify and examine metrics that can be used to assess the resilience of existing infrastructure and inform the planning of investments in infrastructure for the surface, marine, and aviation modes of passenger and freight transportation. Consideration will be given to the types and key features and qualities of metrics that can inform investments intended to increase the resilience of transportation system assets and their critical functions following natural disasters as well as for longer-range resilience planning for a wide array of natural hazards such as hurricanes, floods, wildfires, heat waves, high winds, and changing freeze-thaw patterns. The kinds of data, methodologies, and analytic tools needed to design and apply such metrics will be examined as well as to evaluate their relevance and prioritize their use. Consideration will be given to metrics described in the literature and being used, developed, or recommended by federal agencies, state, tribal, and local governments, metropolitan planning organizations, and other public and private transportation practitioners.

Based on the findings of this review, the committee will make recommendations, as appropriate, on how metrics can be developed, improved, and applied to make more informed decisions such as when to employ higher design and construction standards and when to increase investments overall to strengthen the resilience of transportation infrastructure and systems. The committee will give special attention to metrics that can be applied by Congress and other policymakers to inform decisions about when and how much to invest in transportation resilience, and how to design infrastructure funding programs that prioritize resilience.