A framework for the assessment of road network resilience: application to a densely populated urban context

Abstract

Road networks include strategic and critical infrastructures that must operate effectively at any moment for the well-functioning of a country’s economy. In this context, the risk of traffic closure and/or limitations is constantly present due to a plurality of natural and man-made hazards. In this work, a novel framework for the assessment of road network resilience to both single and multiple hazards is proposed for applications to large road networks located in densely populated urban/extra-urban areas. Multiple potential sources of hazards and their potential consequences are identified. Strong interaction between the infrastructure and the urban or extra-urban area is considered. Disaster resilience is evaluated by considering both the infrastructure’s own assets – such as bridges and viaducts – and the buildings of the urban/extra-urban area where the infrastructure is located. This allows several interdependencies between the road network and buildings to be modelled and considered in the computations, such as the failure of some network connections due to the collapse of some buildings. The main resilience assessment is herein done with respect to earthquake ground motion. Then, some hints are provided for resilience assessment that also accounts for land monitoring data, allowing identification of the optimal connections in post-disaster efficiency assessment of the road network by incorporating information on geohazards from both terrestrial and satellite systems.