This proposal is to develop a cohesive framework for emergency congestion management in the transportation network, with appropriate treatment of the interdependencies among infrastructural systems.  The focus in this proposal is on earthquake related emergencies, which are considered most relevant to California; however the resulting framework can then be extended for other types of emergencies in the future.    The power-related infrastructure will be first considered for simultaneous failures. The main focus areas are: - Determining what types of disruptions can occur in a road network and other infrastructure systems interdependent with the road network, and developing a Disruption Taxonomy.  This will be based on two large-scale California studies on earthquakes impacts but focusing on roadway disruptions. - Developing further insights for adjusting the taxonomy based on historical data on earthquakes around the world, including anecdotal evidence and media evidence.  Peculiar transportation situations and management deficiencies will be a focus. - Developing a modeling and analysis framework that can provides input for response agency decisions on managing the transportation system under link failure emergency.  The framework is based on a meso-scopic simulation platform of evacuation modeling (ONE-ITS, U.California/ U.Toronto), and routing algorithms will be developed for the type of disruptions under earthquakes. - Demonstrating the use of the framework in scenario analysis by selecting earthquakes of various intensities for the Los Angeles area network, and modeling the impacts under a variety of disruption conditions.   Modeled management actions will include traffic routing strategies.

Over the past century, the automobile has evolved to dominate transportation not only from a behavioral perspective but from an infrastructure perspective. Thoroughfares that evolved over millennia to serve many users were transformed in decades to the near exclusive use by motor vehicles. The reasons for this evolution are well documented; alternatives to the behavioral dominance, while numerous in terms of proposals and promise, are nevertheless constrained by the infrastructural dominance. One option that has not been systematically studied but that has the cost advantage of maintaining current infrastructure while addressing associated performance impacts is a significant reduction in allowed arterial left turns. Such a policy will soon become feasible with the rapid adoption of GPS and traveler information systems that can inform drivers of optimal route choice in restricted networks. The proposed research will use a simulation approach to investigate a range of left turn restriction and removal options on sample arterial networks, under a range of driver behavior assumptions.