Development of Freeway Corridor Capacity Measure to Improve Transportation Resilience

69A3551747130Conventional methods to assess the quality of service on freeways are based on the comparison of a specific peak hour traffic demand to the capacity of the facility, which is usually measured at a single uniform bottleneck section. However, estimating the quality of service of one bottleneck section may not be sufficient to assess the performance of an entire freeway facility. A driver travelling along a freeway corridor may actually encounter multiple flow breakdowns at independent bottleneck sections, which affect the overall quality of service. This paper introduces a comprehensive approach that considers an entire freeway corridor as a system consisting of successive independent bottlenecks with different characteristics and can be used to estimate the optimum sustainable volume. The methodology is based on the Sustained Flow Index (SFI), which is defined as the product of traffic volume and the probability of survival at this volume. Optimum volumes of two real-world corridors are estimated based on the new derivations. The empirical results reveal that the optimum volume and the capacity of an entire corridor is less than those of its most restrictive bottleneck

Assessment of evacuation training needs: Targeting instruction to meet the requirements of local communities and agencies

As the need to prepare for, respond to, and recover from major disruptive events continues to become more critical, the use of evacuation as a protective action strategy when confronted with life-threatening disasters is a key component of community resilience planning. While the basic concepts of evacuations are straightforward and consistent across locations and hazard types, the details of planning and managing an evacuation are more varied and complex. To improve evacuation preparedness, the training of emergency managers, police, and transportation agencies becomes key. This study assesses the need for evacuation training among key governmental agencies. A national survey of evacuation planning training needs among emergency managers and those involved in transportation management and operations was undertaken in 2016. This paper summarizes key findings of this survey, which included 727 respondents across 136 cities and 48 states and 2 territories, to reveal the results of this training-needs self-assessment. Based on this analysis, training needs and other recommendations for the development and delivery of curriculum on evacuation planning are presented

The use of chlorate, nitrate, and perchlorate to promote crude oil mineralization in salt marsh sediments

Due to the high volume of crude oil released by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the salt marshes along the gulf coast were contaminated with crude oil. Biodegradation of crude oil in salt marshes is primarily limited by oxygen availability due to the high organic carbon content of the soil, high flux rate of S(2-), and saturated conditions. Chlorate, nitrate, and perchlorate were evaluated for use as electron acceptors in comparison to oxygen by comparing oil transformation and mineralization in mesocosms consisting of oiled salt marsh sediment from an area impacted by the BP Horizon oil spill. Mineralization rates were determined by measuring CO2 production and δ (13)C of the produced CO2 and compared to transformation evaluated by measuring the alkane/hopane ratios over a 4-month period. Total alkane/hopane ratios decreased (~55-70 %) for all treatments in the following relative order: aerated ≈ chlorate \u3e nitrate \u3e perchlorate. Total CO2 produced was similar between treatments ranging from 550-700 mg CO2-C. The δ (13)C-CO2 values generally ranged between the indigenous carbon and oil values (-17 and -27‰, respectively). Oil mineralization was greatest for the aerated treatments and least for the perchlorate amended. Our results indicate that chlorate has a similar potential as oxygen to support oil mineralization in contaminated salt marshes, but nitrate and perchlorate were less effective. The use of chlorate as a means to promote oil mineralization in situ may be a promising means to remediate contaminated salt marshes while preventing unwanted secondary impacts related to nutrient management as in the case of nitrate amendments