Risk assessment and management of critical highway infrastructure

This study expands upon the scope of a previous contract study for the Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC) concluded in March 2002. The objective is to develop methodologies for risk analysis of critical highway infrastructure at two levels: (1) system level and (2) asset level. The system-level analysis conducts risk assessment from a statewide perspective. The goal is to evaluate and prioritize infrastructure from a considerable inventory of assets. The definition of critical infrastructure offered by Presidential Decision Directive (PDD) 63 is used to determine the set of attributes that help differentiate critical from non-critical infrastructure. These attributes correspond to national, regional, and local impact of a structure's damage or complete loss. In addition, the levels of impact are utilized in prioritization: infrastructure that has potential national and regional impact is considered more important than infrastructure with local impact. Further prioritization is conducted based on the asset's need for risk management actions. The asset's current state or condition, in terms of resilience, robustness, redundancy, and security against willful threat is use