Operational resiliency of Beloit-Hudson interstate highway corridor

Abstract

This research identified the top 10 high-risk (low operational resilience) segments along the I-90/94 Interstate Highway Corridor from Hudson to Beloit, Wisconsin. Resiliency in this project is a function of the vulnerability, economic importance and the alternate routes. The analysis considered both freight trucks carrying top 10 commodities and passenger vehicles. The corridor was divided into 43 segments, each starting and ending at interchanges with the state trunk highway. The evaluation metrics included alternate route distance, alternate route travel time, change in traffic volumes on the alternate routes and the change in level of service for the traffic. The vulnerabilities of the bridges, culverts, and road segments of each corridor segment were assessed for various failures modes ranging from scouring, flood scouring, traffic overloads, snow storms, and ice accumulation using a basic analysis method of FMEA (failure mode and effects analysis). The FMEA analysis resulted in risk priority numbers, which provided a rating for each corridor segment on a scale of 10 (high) to 1 (low). The evaluation metrics, along with vulnerability ratings were used to determine an overall resiliency rating for each corridor segment, thus resulting in a prioritization of the segments based on their risk resiliency.