Microscopic Traffic Simulation Modeling and Communication Tool for Post-Disaster Evacuation Routing

This research evaluated the effectiveness of conducting traffic simulation models and developing a mobile application to serve as a communication channel for emergency evacuation preparation and routing. An iOS and Android app was developed to display emergency events to users with suggested routes for evacuation and a microscopic traffic simulation model was conducted for the St. Louis (MO) metropolitan region that analyzed various road networks with projected evacuation demand. A mobile application coded in Swift (Apple) and Kotlin (Android) featured an emergency notification screen that displayed the type of emergency warning (e.g., earthquake, flood, or no warnings) with provided routes for evacuation. Upon selecting an evacuation route, the user can view the desired route to evacuate with and commence the turn-by-turn directions within the app. Microscopic traffic simulations were conducted for the St. Louis (MO) metropolitan region with projected evacuation demand in SUMO (Simulation of Urban MObility) software. The microscopic approach simulated individual vehicles moving along the desired routes and generated operational performance measures such as delays, noise, speed, and overall travel times. The microscopic traffic simulation modeling and mobile app both contributed to the efforts by the Missouri Department of Transportation for effective evacuation preparation. Engineering managers can utilize this research for continued efforts in developing communication and routing tools for emergency evacuation planning. This research was partially sponsored by the Missouri Department of Transportation --Abstract, p.i

Deep Learning Models and Tools for Disaster Evacuation and Routing

MoDOT project # TR202202Engineering managers and transportations planners need robust tools to communicate evacuation routing plans following disruptions from earthquake events. The project will use the New Madrid Seismic Zone in South-East Missouri as a testbed for modeling the response to an earthquake and aftershocks at Magnitude 8+. This area was chosen as it allows solutions to specific regions with inadequate road networks, limited communications protocols, and high likelihood of structural damage for the proposed scenario. Research tasks include identifying road structure damage based on the Mercalli Intensity Scale, running traffic simulations for post-earthquake evacuation to determine the desired routes out of the area. This research will then be able to display the warning of the earthquake event along with the desired route for the end user. Effectively providing the safest navigation routes are a vital part of these planning efforts

Dynamic guidance tool for a safer earthquake pedestrian evacuation in urban systems

In earthquake disasters, the leading causes of death are directly related both to build collapses and fatalities during the following evacuation phase. Allowing people to autonomously gain safe areas and assembly points should be the basis for reducing human losses in urban systems. However, some important environmental and behavioural factors (e.g. vulnerability of buildings, compact urban fabric, cascade effects, presence of people unfamiliar with the urban layout, absence of information on evacuation paths) can hinder this ‘self-help’-based evacuation process. This issue is really important in historical centres where evacuees suffer a combination of unfavourable conditions to safely escape. This paper concerns a non-invasive solution for guiding people along probable safe evacuation routes in earthquake emergency. The proposed Seismic Pedestrians' Evacuation Dynamic Guidance Expert System (SpeedGuides) considers the influence of the main environmental and behavioural safety factors for evacuees (i.e. street vulnerability, street blockages probability, crowding conditions along paths, presence of mortal dangers, visibility conditions) and combines them in a safety index through the Multi-criteria techniques application. SpeedGuides dynamically collects safety factor data during the time and suggests the possible safest path to the nearest secure zone according to the Dijkstra's algorithm approach. SpeedGuides is an easy-to-use model proposed for application on personal devices (e.g. smartphone) that, taking advantage of different expert methods, allows evacuees to simple enhance their safety. A first effectiveness evaluation of SpeedGuides is provided through an earthquake pedestrians' evacuation simulator in a significant case study. The evacuee performances (with and without the proposed guidance tool) are compared and discussed. Results demonstrate how individuals' safety levels are increased when evacuees use SpeedGuides