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International Journal of Environment Science and Technology
Center for Environment and Energy Research and Studies (CEERS)
ISSN: 1735-1472 EISSN: 1735-1472
Vol. 11, No. 8, 2014, pp. 2387-2402
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Bioline Code: st14228
Full paper language: English
Document type: Research Article
Document available free of charge
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International Journal of Environment Science and Technology, Vol. 11, No. 8, 2014, pp. 2387-2402
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Highway freight transportation disruptions under an extreme environmental event: the case of Hurricane Katrina
Shen, G. & Aydin, S.G.
Abstract
A safe, resilient, and sustainable transportation
system for efficient freight flow is critically important to a
nation’s economy. A major disruption to the transportation
system due to extreme natural or human disasters can
significantly affect the freight movement in the system.
The purpose of this research was to develop a general
framework to study disruptions to freight flows under an
extreme event and apply the framework to retro-analyze
the impact of 2005 Hurricane Katrina to the freight
movement on the US highway network using a geographical
information system, assignment models, and performance
measures. Freight movement dynamics prior to and
after the disaster are analyzed using aggregated measures
such as vehicle mile traveled and vehicle time traveled for
different types of roads in urban and rural areas in the USA.
This research shows that when a disaster occurs to a part of
the highway transportation network, the freight flow
changes are not only local, but also regional and national,
indicating that applying solely distance-based methods to
modeling flow disruption effects may not capture the whole
picture. The research provides some insights for pre- and
post-disaster decision makings that help lead to a resilient
freight highway transportation system.
Keywords
Freight transportation; Highway; Assignment; Disruption; GIS; Katrina
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