A Framework for Developing and Integrating Effective Routing Strategies Within the Emergency Management Decision-Support System

Abstract:

This report describes the modeling, calibration, and validation of a VISSIM traffic-flow simulation of the San José, California, downtown network and examines various evacuation scenarios and first-responder routings to assess strategies that would be effective in the event of a no-notice disaster.

The modeled network required a large amount of data on network geometry, signal timings, signal coordination schemes, and turning-movement volumes. Turning-movement counts at intersections were used to validate the network with the empirical formula-based measure known as the GEH statistic. Once the base network was tested and validated, various scenarios were modeled to estimate evacuation and emergency vehicle arrival times. Based on these scenarios, a variety of emergency plans for San José’s downtown traffic circulation were tested and validated. The model could be used to evaluate scenarios in other communities by entering their community-specific data.

Publications:

A Framework for Developing and Integrating Effective Routing Strategies Within the Emergency Management Decision-Support System (5.6MB)

Research Brief (369K)

Authors:

ANURAG PANDE, PhD

Anurag Pande, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. In addition, he is the coordinator of the dual degree program in Civil Engineering and City and Regional Planning. He is a Research Associate of Mineta Transportation Institute.

FRANCES EDWARDS, PhD

Frances Edwards, MUP, PhD, CEM., is the Director of the Master of Public Administration program and Professor of Political Science at San José State University. She is also Deputy Director of the National Transportation Security Center at Mineta Transportation Institute, where she teaches emergency management in the Master of Science in Transportation Management program. She has twenty years’ experience as an emergency management practitioner, including fourteen years as the Director of Emergency Preparedness for the City of San José, California.

JOSEPH YU, MS

Joseph Yu obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The focus of his Masters degree research was transportation, specifically, traffic operations and microscopic simulation study. He is in the process of completing his advanced degree.

Published:

May 2012

Keywords:

Evacuation

Emergency operations

Emergency response

Safety

Security