Evaluating Regional Contra-Flow and Phased Evacuation Strategies for Texas Using a Large-Scale Dynamic Traffic Simulation and Assignment Approach

Chiu, Yi-Chang; Zheng, Hong; Villalobos, Jorge; Peacock, Walter Gillis; Henk, R H

doi:10.2202/1547-7355.1409

Cited by 59 publications

(24 citation statements)

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“…However, applying these techniques on a large (megaregion) scale has not been explored in prior research. Previous research on phased evacuation [12,21] has shown demand metering to be an effective evacuation strategy but no study has yet addressed why it is successful or provided a formulation to describe its impact.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research conducted on larger regional scales have typically used macroscopic traffic models and have been primarily focused on clearance and network delay [9][10][11]. Microscopic modeling on a city-wide scale has been used to test traffic management strategies and modeling techniques in the Houston and New Orleans area [12,13]. More recent studies have been conducted on megaregion networks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More recent studies have been conducted on megaregion networks. Chiu et al, (2008) and Dixit et al, (2011a) conducted regionalscale simulation studies to evaluate regional impacts of various evacuation strategies for the Houston-Galveston area during Hurricane Rita and the Louisiana region during Hurricane Katrina, respectively [12,13]. So and Daganzo (2010) developed priority rules for evacuation routes to increase efficiency [29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Application of a Productivity Function to Assess Network Performance During Mass Evacuations

Zhang¹,

Parr²,

Wolshon³

2016

IJT

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Application of a Productivity Function to Assess Network Performance During Mass Evacuations

Zhang¹,

Parr²,

Wolshon³

2016

IJT

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“…Socio-economic impacts of a natural hazard like hurricanes can also be measured with DTS in order to minimize losses . Jha et al (2004) propose evacuation plans based on a microscopic dynamic traffic model called MITSIMLab (Yang et al, 2000;Moshe et al, 2010) while contra-flow strategies for a large-scale regional traffic are simulated by Chiu et al (2008).…”

Section: Dynamic Traffic Simulatormentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic risk simulation to assess natural hazards risk along roads

Voumard

Caspar

Derron

et al. 2013

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Risk generated by natural hazards on roads is usually calculated with equations integrating various parameters related to hazard and traffic. These are static variables, like an average number of vehicles crossing this section every day and an average vehicle speed. This methodology cannot take into account dynamic variations of traffic and interactions between vehicles such as speed modifications due to windy roads, slowdowns resulting from saturated traffic or vehicle tailbacks forming in front of traffic lights.Here we show, by means of a dynamic traffic simulator, that traffic variations may greatly influence the risk estimation over time. The risk is analysed on several sections of an Alpine road in Switzerland using a dynamic vehicles approach, and compared with the results of the static methodology. It demonstrates that risk can significantly increase on sinuous sections because of decreasing vehicle speed. For example, along an 800 m-long section of road containing two hairpin bends, the dynamic risk is about 50 % higher than the static one. Badly placed signalization, slowing down, or stopping the vehicles in a hazardous area may increase the risk by about 150 % (i.e. 2.5 times higher) along a straight road section where vehicles speed is high.A more realistic risk can thus be obtained from a dynamic approach, especially on mountain roads. The dynamic traffic simulator developed for this work appears to be a helpful tool to support decision-making in reducing risk on mountain roads and it shows the importance of keeping the traffic moving as freely as possible.

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“…Common decisions selected for optimization focus on generating evacuation advisory information, including departure times, evacuation routes, and destination choices for evacuees (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). Additional tactical decisions may entail optimizing traffic control and reconfiguring the network to take advantage of flexibilities in the network and create a more efficient evacuation plan (6)(7)(8)(9).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient Negative Cycle–Canceling Algorithm for Finding the Optimal Traffic Routing for Network Evacuation with Nonuniform Threats

Nassir

Zheng

Hickman

2014

Transportation Research Record

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A new network flow solution method is designed to determine optimal traffic routing efficiently for the evacuation of networks with several threat zones and with nonuniform threat levels across zones. The objective is to minimize total exposure (as duration and severity) to the threat for all evacuees during the evacuation. The problem is formulated as a minimum cost dynamic flow problem coupled with traffic dynamic constraints. The traffic flow dynamic constraints are enforced by the well-known point queue and spatial queue models in a time-expanded network presentation. The key to the efficiency of the proposed method is that, for any feasible solution, the algorithm can find and can cancel multiple negative cycles (including the cycle with the largest negative cost) with a single shortest path calculation made possible by applying a proposed transformation to the original problem. A cost transformation function and a multisource shortest path algorithm are proposed to facilitate the efficient detection and cancelation of negative cycles. Zone by zone, negative cycles are canceled at the border links of the zones. The solution method is proved to be optimal. The algorithm is implemented, tested, and verified to be optimal for a midsized example problem.Over the past few decades, many human-caused and natural disasters (e.g., hurricanes, building fires, bomb threats, and chemical spills) have occurred. The increasing number and intensity of emergencies raise interest in the optimal preparation of an evacuation plan before an emergency arises. Evacuation problems have been studied extensively by many researchers in various modeling paradigms, with different selections of decision variables, objective functions, and constraint sets; moreover, the solution methods have generated a wide spectrum of approaches suitable for problem-specific purposes, contexts, capabilities, and performances.Evacuation management policies can be modeled, enhanced, and optimized with mathematical optimization techniques. Tactical decisions that provide the scope and context of the evacuation plan are made in various ways depending on the evacuation control tools available to the decision makers. Common decisions selected for optimization focus on generating evacuation advisory information, including departure times, evacuation routes, and destination choices for evacuees (1-5). Additional tactical decisions may entail optimizing traffic control and reconfiguring the network to take advantage of flexibilities in the network and create a more efficient evacuation plan (6-9).Without considering the fine details of traffic flow dynamics on roadways, an evacuation can be formulated as a general dynamic network flow problem, which optimizes the evacuation objective as a network flow problem on a dynamic network. Minimizing the network clearance time is one of the common objectives in the evacuation literature; its dynamic flow model counterpart is known as the quickest flow problem (10-13). Another evacuation optimization objective is to min...

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Evaluating Regional Contra-Flow and Phased Evacuation Strategies for Texas Using a Large-Scale Dynamic Traffic Simulation and Assignment Approach

Cited by 59 publications

References 0 publications

Application of a Productivity Function to Assess Network Performance During Mass Evacuations

Application of a Productivity Function to Assess Network Performance During Mass Evacuations

Dynamic risk simulation to assess natural hazards risk along roads

Efficient Negative Cycle–Canceling Algorithm for Finding the Optimal Traffic Routing for Network Evacuation with Nonuniform Threats

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