In June 2022, the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) adopted on-road transportation sector-specific greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals of 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 and 80 percent below 2005 levels by 2050. These goals build on the priority actions recommended in the Metropolitan Washington 2030 Climate and Energy Action Plan and goals set by the COG Board of Directors in 2020. Reducing regionwide GHG emissions and adopting climate mitigation strategies are two examples of how the TPB is bringing together local jurisdictions from the region to collaborate on climate-ready decision-making for the transportation network. While the TPB has focused on climate mitigation for many years, adapting to the impacts of climate change is equally important.

Transportation resilience planning considers vulnerability, risks, and proactive anticipation of hazards that could affect physical infrastructure and utilities, disrupt service, and displace or pose health and well-being threats for travelers. The TPB has identified the following as key climate-related hazards most likely to impact transportation in the region:

• Heat
  • Train rail expansion
  • Bridge joint expansion

• Extreme precipitation and flooding
  • Infrastructure collapse
  • Road closure
• Extreme winter conditions
  • Road surface cracking
  • Systems power loss
  • Road closures due to obstructions

The TPB’s resilience planning efforts reflect federal transportation and environmental priorities. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is one of several federal agencies increasing the focus on resilience as climate conditions affect infrastructure, energy use, housing, and land use development.

In 2015, under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, the USDOT began requiring transportation agencies to consider resilience in their transportation planning process. At the time, emphasis was on reducing stormwater impacts of surface transportation.

In 2021, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issued updated Planning Emphasis Areas (PEAs) for state DOTs, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) such as TPB, and public transportation providers. PEAs encourage setting greenhouse gas reduction goals, accelerating transition toward electric and alternative fuel vehicles, and “identifying transportation system vulnerabilities to climate change and evaluating potential solutions” as part of their work programs.

More recently, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), enacted as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), established a new formula and discretionary grant program called Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT). The purpose of the PROTECT program is to improve surface transportation resilience against sea level rise, flooding, extreme weather events, and other natural disasters.

TPB’s Resilience Planning Program

The TPB, as a regional body, has a goal of becoming a Climate Ready Region by 2030. To become Climate Resilient, local governments must assess climate risks and integrate climate planning across government plans, operations, and communications. This action improves the region’s ability to adapt to and absorb climate impacts while maintaining essential functions. To move these goals forward, the TPB has created a new Transportation Resilience Planning Program.

The program consists of:

• A Resiliency Study to identify climate-related planning efforts in the region
• A webinar series and resource guide for planning, engineering, and environment professionals
• Establishment of a Regional Transportation Resilience Work Group
• A Vulnerability Assessment of system-level and asset-level risks
• Preparation of a Transportation Resilience Improvement Plan (TRIP) and interactive map

The TRIP will include a risk-based vulnerability assessment and a list of transportation resilience projects, all while incorporating feedback from the regional working group. Developing a TRIP lowers non-federal construction match for PROTECT-funded projects from 20 percent to 13 percent, and integrating the TRIP into the MPO’s long-range transportation plan further reduces the match to 10 percent.
 

Route 662 Lucketts Road, Loudoun County, Virginia (VDOT/Flickr)
 

Resilience Activities for 2023 - 2024

The TPB’s resilience activities are coordinated across COG’s departments so that collaboration exists not only jurisdiction to jurisdiction but also within COG itself. Staff from the COG Department of Transportation Planning regularly meets and discusses work activities with COG’s Department of Environmental Programs, an interdepartmental approach that will continue as the TPB convenes working group meetings and hosts a regional forum.

Working Group

TPB’s TRIP Working Group held its first meeting on May 30. Members of the working group represent TPB member agencies from the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, George Mason University, Virginia Railway Express (VRE), and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).

Nick Ruiz, Planning Program Manager at VRE says of the inter-agency collaboration: "The resiliency issues we'll face in the future due to climate change won't recognize jurisdiction or transit operator boundaries. Working with the TPB to develop a unified regional plan to address the risks our critical transportation infrastructure will confront is essential to maintaining the region's mobility and a high quality of transit service, specifically. VRE is pleased to be able to leverage the resources TPB will provide through the TRIP development process to inform our own system and facilities planning efforts going forward."

Quarterly meetings will occur through June 2024, and agendas will focus on preparation and review of the vulnerability assessment and providing direction and feedback on the TRIP’s development. For example, the May meeting included discussion of an overlay analysis of vulnerable assets in relation to COG’s Equity Emphasis Areas.

Fall 2023 TPB Resiliency Forum

A Resiliency Forum will be held in early fall 2023. The forum will expand opportunity for the region’s resilience and transportation industry representatives to share knowledge of climate risks, collaborate to identify resilience solutions, and discuss example resilience projects. More information and a Save the Date will be shared with TPB members in the coming months.

Learn More and Stay Informed

Resilience planning updates will be shared with TPB Board and technical committee members over the coming year. The most recent board update was in May 2023—the TPB Meeting recap provides a summary. The Transportation Resilience page here at the COG website will be regularly updated, and the COG and TPB newsletters will feature resilience stories. Subscribe to stay in the loop!

For more information or questions about the TPB’s resilience planning initiative, contact Katherine Rainone, TPB Resilience Planner, at krainone@mwcog.org.