Development of Earthquake Crisis Management Strategic Plan for Metropolitan Motorway Systems

The paper presents the development of a new methodology for prediction, rapid diagnosis and assessment, and management of the consequences of a strong seismic event affecting an urban transportation network. The methodology is divided in three stages: (a) pre-seismic risk assessment of major structures along the motorway, (b) estimation of strength and vulnerability of structures, and (c) parametric analysis of the consequences of different seismic scenarios, both in terms of structural damage and with regard to traffic operations. This way, the expected damage for the various structures of the network and its consequences are estimated before the occurrence of a possible future seismic episode, allowing timely preparation of a robust strategic plan for rapid assessment and crisis management. The strategy encompasses the actions to be taken by the network administrator in order to ensure safety and achieve optimum serviceability of the motorway.