Generic Incident Model for Investigating Traffic Incident Impacts on Evacuation Times in Large-Scale Emergencies

Traffic incidents cause a ripple effect of reduced travel speeds, lane changes, and the pursuit of alternative routes that results in gridlock on the immediately affected and surrounding roadways. The disruptions caused by the secondary effects significantly degrade travel time reliability, which is of great concern to the emergency planners who manage evacuations. Outcomes forecast by a generic incident model embedded in a microscopic evacuation simulation, the Real-Time Evacuation Planning Model (RtePM), were examined to quantify the change in time required for an emergency evacuation that results from traffic incidents. The incident model considered vehicle miles traveled on each individual segment of the studied road network model. The two scenarios considered for this investigation were evacuations of (a) Washington, D.C., after a simulated terrorist attack and (b) Virginia Beach, Virginia, in response to a simulated hurricane. These results could help the emergency planning community understand and investigate the impact of traffic incidents during an evacuation.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.3141/2459-02
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780309295512
• Authors:
  • Collins, Andrew J
  • Foytik, Peter
  • Frydenlund, Erika
  • Robinson, R Michael
  • Jordan, Craig A
• Publication Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 11–17
• Monograph Title: Critical Infrastructure, Emergency Evacuation, and Logistics of Disaster Recovery 2014
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
  • Issue Number: 2459
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Emergency management; Evacuation; Forecasting; Traffic delays; Traffic incidents; Traffic simulation; Travel time
• Geographic Terms: Virginia Beach (Virginia); Washington (District of Columbia)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Security and Emergencies; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01506566
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9780309295512
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-1735
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 5 2014 9:47AM