Adaptation of existing infrastructure is a response to climate change that can ensure a viable, safe, and robust transportation network. However, deep uncertainties associated with climate change pose significant challenges to adaptation planning. Specifically, current transportation planning methods are ill-equipped to address deep uncertainties, as they rely on designing responses to a few predicted futures, none of which will occur exactly as envisioned. In this paper, we propose using dynamic adaptive planning (DAP), an emerging general strategic planning method, to account for deep uncertainties by building flexibility and learning mechanisms into plans that enable continuous adaptation throughout implementation. This paper first reviews uncertainty in general, introduces what is meant by deep uncertainty, and then introduces DAP. Then, DAP is applied to a case study of the Oakland approach to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which was initially assessed under the 2010-2011 FHWA Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Pilot program, to illustrate how DAP could be applied as a response to climate change in the context of evolving transportation infrastructure adaptation planning practices in the United States. We conclude that DAP is well suited to account for the deep uncertainties of climate change in transportation and infrastructure planning, and provide suggestions for further research to better apply DAP in this field.

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The primary focus of computer simulation in transportation engineering has been to model individual systems using modeling software packages designed for the specific system under investigation. However, this limits the ability to explore interactions between multiple disparate transportation systems in a dynamic modeling environment. To address this gap, this study develops and tests a technique to federate two transportation models, each constructed using different simulation software packages: (1) a discrete event-based simulation model of a freight trucking terminal and (2) a discrete time-step-based traffic microscopic simulation model of the network serving the terminal. The federation technique is tested to consider potential feedback loops that may arise between the models during a single simulation run. It is then applied in a notional case study of the Port of Savannah to further assess its capabilities. The findings suggest that this federated simulation technique captures the dynamic interaction of the two systems being modeled. A comparison of the observed versus expected time-based characteristics of the interactions are shown to yield statistically significant correlation.

Civil engineers are poised to impact sustainable development. Consequently, there is a need for curricular materials to scaffold students in developing sustainable design skills. Previously, a sustainability module, based on Kolb’s learning cycle, was integrated into a civil engineering capstone course in the United States. The purpose of this study was to analyze the extent to which students engaging in the module (intervention cohort) were able to improve their sustainable design skills, as compared to a group of capstone students not participating in the module (control cohort). A Sustainable Design Rubric was used to assess students’ sustainable design performance, as captured in capstone reports. In addition, students reflected on their confidence related to several sustainable design competencies via a survey. Based on an evaluation of capstone design reports, improvement in the intervention teams’ consideration of sustainable design criteria was somewhat limited, as they more extensively addressed only 2 of the 16 sustainable design criteria compared to control teams. Intervention students reported improved confidence in more sustainable design competencies than control students (10 of 12 for intervention students; 1 of 12 for control students). For future implementations, clearer and more extensive sustainable design expectations need to be set by instructors and project sponsors to increase the execution of sustainable design and close the gap between students’ perceptions of improved skills and teams’ actual application of sustainable design criteria.

is a Ph.D. candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Georgia Tech (GT). Through support from a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, she has been working to improve the quality of sustainability education in CEE at GT through development and application of a variety of assessment tools and educational interventions. In addition to research in the field of engineering education, Mary Katherine is the founding president of the GT chapter of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). Also at GT, Mary Katherine completed an M.S. in Environmental Engineering with research focused on biological treatment of organic surfactants. Prior to enrolling at GT, she received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biosystems Engineering from Clemson University.