When severe weather disrupts Texas’s transportation network, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) plays a vital role in restoring access and keeping goods and people moving safely across the state.
Designated a future interstate by Congress in 2022, the Ports-to-Plains Corridor represents one of the most significant infrastructure investments in a generation. Stretching from Laredo to the Canadian border, the corridor is envisioned as a backbone for energy logistics, supply chain efficiency and national defense.
But as it grows, so do its operational risks.
Texas faces growing threats from inland and coastal flooding, hurricanes and extreme temperatures that can damage infrastructure and disrupt operations. With an average of 13 unique, billion-dollar weather events overthe past five years, these events have cascading effects on public safety, supply chains and the overall economy – underscoring the need for proactive, systemwide resilience planning.
That’s why STV partnered with the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) and the Ports-to-Plains Alliance to host an AI-enabled tabletop exercise across three TxDOT Emergency Operations Centers, the findings of which were shared at the Ports-to-Plains Bi-Annual Conference, where transportation and resilience leaders gathered to discuss the corridor’s long-term development.
The simulation, first introduced to the SAME National Communities of Interest, and later piloted at the Texas-based post, modeled a Category 4 hurricane making landfall along the Gulf Coast before moving inland toward Laredo to test how the state’s critical freight corridor would perform and recover under a 500-year flood scenario.
Advancing Emergency Coordination Through AI
While traditional tabletop exercises emphasize coordination and response, this scenario pushed further. Using AI-generated “injects,” or dynamic prompts, the simulation introduced new challenges in real time such as rail disruptions, hazardous material spills and extended power outages: forcing tabletop participants to adapt as conditions evolved.
The AI integration allowed us to introduce variables that tested not only communication and decision-making, but also the resilience of the underlying systems. That realism encouraged participants to move beyond response and start considering how resilience can be built into the infrastructure itself.
Turning Insights into Actionable Design
What we’re learning from these exercises is that the same pressure points that slow down coordination during an event often signal vulnerabilities in infrastructure design. If we can identify those early, we can incorporate them into cross-agency coordination for modernization designs, making resilience an inherent feature rather than a retrofit.
These exercises inform resilient roadway design toolkits, influencing culvert sizing and bridge clearance standards, and connecting infrastructure projects to federal and state funding through G.R.A.N.T.S. @ STV® tool.
Resilience is not a standalone discipline. It’s the link between infrastructure, operations and economic security. Every exercise is an opportunity to shorten the time between impact and recovery. Because resilience isn’t just about reopening roads, it’s about keeping commerce moving, protecting communities and building confidence in the systems that support our way of life.
