Evaluating Road Resilience to Wildfires: Case Studies of Camp and Carr Fires

Somayeh PhD Nassiri, Ali Azhar PhD Butt, Ali Zarei, Changmo PhD Kim, Rongzong PhD Wu, Jeremy David Lea and Jessica Erdahl

Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series from Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis

Abstract: Between 2017 and 2018, California experienced four devastating fires, including the Camp and Carr Fires. After fires, road infrastructure is crucial for safe removal of hazardous materials and waste to landfills and recycling facilities. Despite the critical role of pavements in this process, there has been little quantitative evaluation of the potential damage to pavements from truck traffic for debris removal. To address this knowledge gap, data on truck trip numbers and debris tonnage following the Camp and Carr Fires were used to calculate changes in equivalent single axle loads and traffic index over the pavement’s design life (the age at which reconstruction would be considered). Simulations were conducted on existing pavement structures to assess potential additional damage based on increased traffic indices. Pavement structural design simulations showed that out of the nine studied highways, one exhibited a reduction in cracking life of about two years from debris removal operations. However, fatigue cracking was significantly accelerated for Skyway, the major road in the Town of Paradise, failing 14.3 years before its design life. A methodology similar to the one presented in this study can be adopted in debris management planning to strategically avoid vulnerable pavements and minimize damage to the highway network.

Keywords: Engineering; Wildfires; pavements; disaster resilience; mechanistic-empirical pavement design; debris removal; traffic loads; fatigue cracking; rutting; case studies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-12-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env, nep-inv and nep-tre
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