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Title:

Scenario-Based Analysis of Transportation Impacts in Case of Dam Failure Flood Evacuation in Franklin County, Massachusetts

Accession Number:

01154856

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Abstract:

Emergency planning is an important practice that allows government officials and planners to prepare for disasters and to make prompt responses that can save lives and property. One of the foremost concerns during an emergency is to save as many lives as possible. Thus, whether people can leave the disaster areas safely and efficiently is a prime consideration in emergency planning and management. Usually, transportation planners use a four-step model to predict system-level performance regarding how people move from one place to another, and to determine the network’s weak points and critical areas. In this project, a computer-based software package, TransCAD, is used to evaluate traffic impacts of the evacuation of riverside communities in Franklin County, Massachusetts in the event of flood caused by a hypothetical failure of the Harriman Dam. This scenario was partially designed by representatives of Franklin County. The probable maximum flood (PMF) case is considered; for safety concerns, an evacuation-planning zone (EPZ) is defined as 500 feet beyond inundation area. One important concern is that people living upstream, near the dam, have much less time to evacuate than those who live downstream. The basic consideration behind the model is to evacuate people in a progressive manner in order to take into account the dynamic nature of flood. Using the four-step model together with altered inputs, an analysis is conducted to identify when and where the traffic problems will be the most severe. Following this, general conclusions and recommendations are made.

Monograph Accession #:

01147878

Report/Paper Numbers:

10-1352

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Wang, Haizhong
Andrews, Steven Patrick
Ni, Daiheng
Collura, John

Pagination:

20p

Publication Date:

2010

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 89th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2010-1-10 to 2010-1-14
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

DVD

Features:

Figures; Maps; References (9) ; Tables (3)

Uncontrolled Terms:

Scenario planning

Geographic Terms:

Massachusetts

Subject Areas:

Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Security and Emergencies; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2010 Paper #10-1352

Files:

TRIS, TRB

Created Date:

Jan 25 2010 10:36AM