MEASURING POST-DISASTER TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM PERFORMANCE: THE 1995 KOBE EARTHQUAKE IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2001

Subject Area

economics - appraisal/evaluation, organisation - management, place - urban, mode - rail

Keywords

Urban transit, Urban rail, United States, TSM, Transportation systems management, Transportation system performance, Transportation system management, Service restoration, Performance, Northridge Earthquake, January 17, 1994, Loma Prieta Earthquake, October 17, 1989, Kobe (Japan), Japan, Infrastructure, Hyogoken-Nanbu Earthquake (Japan), Highways, Evaluation, Earthquakes, Disasters, Comparative analysis, California, Accessibility

Abstract

Urban transportation networks have been severely damaged in recent earthquake disasters, leading to significant economic disruption. No measures currently exist to evaluate total system performance in transportation risk assessment, in addition to examining the vulnerability of individual components, such as bridges. This paper develops post-disaster system performance measures and applies them to the urban rail and highway transportation systems in the Kobe, Japan, region devastated by the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu earthquake. Performance is evaluated in terms of network coverage and transport accessibility. Performance degradation was much more severe for highways and railways than for other lifeline infrastructure systems. Both transportation systems fared poorly in the disaster but service restoration proceeded much more rapidly for rail. The restoration of highway system performance correlated closely with the recovery of highway traffic volumes. The authors further develop a measure of sub area transport accessibility and apply this to Kobe's constituent city wards. Results indicated substantial spatial disparity that is maintained throughout the restoration period. Comparisons with the 1989 Loam Prieta and 1994 Northridge earthquakes in the United States (California) show that although these disasters caused notable damage to highway bridges, system performance degradation was small in comparison with the Kobe experience. The authors argue that explicitly measuring transportation system performance can greatly facilitate both understanding the effects of historic disasters and preparing for future hazard events.

Comments

Transportation Research Part A Home Page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09658564

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