Rebuilding Surface, Maritime, and Air Transportation in Puerto Rico After Hurricanes Irma and Maria

📖 The Scoop

Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated Puerto Rico in September 2017. The Federal Emergency Management Agency asked the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center to develop a long-range recover plan for the damages to Puerto Rico, incorporating all of the sectors indicated in the National Disaster Recovery Framework. This report provides a comprehensive evaluation of the transportation sector. it includes a detailed description of prestorm conditions across surface, maritime, and air transportation; descriptions of the damages caused by the hurricanes, including physical damages and estimated costs to repair them; and a list of proposed courses of action selected by the government of Puerto Rico. Before the hurricanes, transportation in Puerto Rico was marked by reads and bridges in fair condition, a public transportation system with low service provision and declining ridership, a high reliance on one seaport and one airport, declining cargo movements, and significant fiscal solvency concerns. The hurricanes produced widespread damage to the transportation sector, totaling an estimated $1.8 billion in repair costs and another $1.1 billion in recommended resilience upgrades. The recovery plan proposes 22 courses of action across all transportation modes, divided between repair and maintenance (such as new design standards for roads and bridges and a "fix it first" policy), upgrades (such as an upgraded airport in the western half of the island and enhancements to increase port resilience); new capacity (three highway projects and two transit corridors); and planning, policy and management (such as intelligent transportation systems and consolidation of port ownership). Book jacket.

Genre: Business & Economics / Industries / Transportation (fancy, right?)