Traffic Simulation Modeling for an Urban Chemical Disaster: Emergency Evacuation Development and Case Study

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the post 9/11 era, emergency evacuation in large metropolitan areas has become a subject of national attention. The purpose of this paper was to simulate an emergency response to evacuation procedure in the downtown Baltimore, Maryland area. Proposed traffic modeling for simulating the response to emergency evacuation procedure in the case of a chemical disaster was designed to determine the most efficient response procedure. Using an integrated M&S framework, this paper seeks to describe the design of the Urban Chemical Disaster simulation. Included are the engineering considerations that led to the simulation flow structure using real-time and faster than real-time components. Components of chemical dispersion, chemical concentrations and wind transport media, chemical release rates, and sensing command/control simulations, are contributing factors to traffic flow manipulation. These manipulations will provide an effective emergency evacuation response method which could be used in the near future. A number of methodologies were posited by the research group to learn which could effectively mitigate a potential bioterrorist attack. Lessons learned in the collaboration along with feasible alternatives are discussed in further detail