Safety

The magnitude of societal and economic impacts associated with recent natural and manmade
disasters has generated heightened awareness of the importance of infrastructure
resiliency. Transportation systems are key to response and recovery at the regional level.
These systems must hold up under stress maintaining baseline service levels and must be
robust enough in physical design and operational concept to provide a degree of selfrestoration
to prevent a destructive event from becoming the catalyst for a degenerative
epoch. Implications of non-resilient transportation systems on quality of life and economic
efficacy of a locality or region are tremendous. Engineering disciplines have made great
advances in design and assessment, increasing resiliency for the built environment. However,
those involved in infrastructure investment decisions face a significant challenge when
seeking guidance for measuring resiliency for complex and adaptive systems such as
transportation. Decision makers need metrics, integrating frameworks, and decision support
tools to test investment strategies against a range of potential event sequences. The objective of this paper is to present a conceptual framework and methodology to aid in the
quantification of the concept of transportation resiliency.

Utah State University

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Paper submitted for publication and presentation at the ITS America’s 2009 Annual Meeting and Exposition

In the event of an unexpected disaster situation, process of evacuation is crucial for
saving lives. Several studies have been conducted regarding the forecasts of
catastrophes and various algorithms have been successfully implemented. However,
even with an accurate prediction model, if timely reaction and evacuation in response
to such threats are not well coordinated, the result could be significantly fatal. This
paper covers a comprehensive analysis of traffic operation in the event of tsunami in
Honolulu, Hawaii as a case study. Effectiveness of a controlled traffic routing under
such an event is also discussed with the use of Advanced Traveler Management and
Information System (ATMIS) through simulation application. The optimal system
diversion rate is also investigated through sensitivity analysis to cross check the
measure of performance. With suggested future recommendations, this paper can be of
great use as a guideline in preparing a successful emergency evacuation system.

Tetra Tech

Paper submitted for publication and presentation at the ITS America’s 2009 Annual Meeting and Exposition

When emergencies associated with severe weather, traffic incidents, construction, planned
special events, and threats to security occur in the state, the Wisconsin Department of
Transportation will be one of possibly many agencies that will be called upon to respond to
the situation. This paper presents an overview of the Department’s proactive response as
guided by their Emergency Transportation Operations (ETO) Plan. The ETO Plan is
National Incident Management System (NIMS) compliant and describes how the Incident
Command System (ICS) is utilized as a structure for response. In addition to response
guidelines, the Plan also contains information on the Department’s ongoing ETO Program,
including organizational roles, performance-based accountability and reporting, threat and
risk assessment, and training.

HNTB Corporation

Wisconsin Department of Transportation

Paper submitted for publication and presentation at the ITS America’s 2009 Annual Meeting and Exposition

Increasing mid-block crashes lead traffic engineers to assess crosswalk treatments
safer for children and seniors. One method is to signalize mid-block crossings. Utilizing a
microsimulation approach, this paper evaluated several alternatives for signalizing a typical midblock crosswalk (MBC), to explore how the change in signals and geometries affects vehicles
and pedestrians. Fuzzy logic control (FLC) has proven effective for a complex optimization
problem with multiple objectives, uncertain information, and vague decision criteria. Traffic
signal timing lies in this domain. To model the rage of variables in MBCs, a FLC signal is
newly developed and evaluated against a counterpart to quantify potential safety and efficiency
benefits. Comprehensively, FLC effectively controlled the signal timing and outperformed the
counterpart, also finding a compromise among multiple objectives (e.g., enhancing safety,
ameliorating operations, and lessening social cost).

University of Wisconsin – Madison

Paper submitted for publication and presentation at the ITS America’s 2009 Annual Meeting and Exposition

An original engineering approach towards the implementation of Vision Zero for
Children is presented in this paper. A new policy towards child safety management targets
zero child fatalities through a shift in the child-safety paradigm. The new policy points to the
required changes in the current approach towards child safety and discusses the required
changes relative to the existing child-safety paradigm. The actions advocated by this new
policy represent a first introduction of the car seat industry and motor vehicle child protection
to the ITS world. It offers a departure from the current approach which treats child protection
in a piecemeal fashion and an adoption of a holistic approach to hazard mitigation as a means
to set new standards for child safety in the 21st century.

Safe to Ride, Inc.

Paper submitted for publication and presentation at the ITS America’s 2009 Annual Meeting and Exposition