Measurement of effectiveness and difficulty of traffic management measures in disasters

Abstract

Traffic managers view disasters as events depicting sudden surge in traffic demand and deficient transport supplies. In disasters, increments of transport capacities by transport-related development are impractical and traffic management measures are viable yet inexpensive options to mitigate the effects of disasters. This paper presents the methodology of qualitative assessment conducted on 27 pre-selected traffic management (TM) measures that are applicable to disasters. The methodology of the assessment includes: (i) estimation of relative weight of traffic management factors using analytic hierarchy process (AHP), (ii) self-assessment and rating of measures based on effectiveness and difficulty scales, (iii) determination of priority classes of measures based on qualitative assessment model, and (iv) the determination of residual measures signifying low applicability. Such an assessment aids decision-making process regarding the selection of measures and their applicability in the event of real disasters. The results from the assessment indicated that all the 27 measures were found effective in disasters, seven of them were not found applicable, thereby leaving only 20 measures, which were found both effective and applicable