REDARS 2 Demonstration Project for Seismic Risk Analysis of Highway Systems

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funds research through the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) to develop methods to reduce the seismic vulnerability of roadway systems and components. One of the tasks has focused on the development, programming, and application of a new state-of-the-art methodology for deterministic and probabilistic seismic risk analysis (SRA) of roadway systems nationwide. This work has culminated in the release of a software package, REDARS™ 2, for assessing the time-dependent impacts of earthquakes on a transportation network in terms of traffic delays and economic losses. The project was to enable Caltrans’ staff to assess the applicability of the REDARS™ for pre-earthquake planning of seismic-risk-reduction measures and post-earthquake emergency response in real time. The project has also supported the improvement of several models within REDARS™. Caltrans’ staff has beta tested the REDARS™ 2 software, and has provided suggestions for future methodology and software upgrades.