Jan Husdal

Why reliability and vulnerability should be an issue in road development projects

Few will question that the sender, the recipient, the freight hauler or society in general, experience additional costs when goods or persons cannot reach their destinations in time or space. Consequently, it should be obvious that a reliable transportation network represents a benefit to society. Equally, a vulnerable network would represent a net cost to society. Why then, is the reliability, or conversely, the vulnerability, of the transportation network not a matter of evaluation in traditional cost-benefit analyses?

This is an English translation of an article that was first published in Norwegian in "Samferdsel", issue 4/2004:

Husdal, J. (2004). Pålitelighet og sårbarhet - et ikke-tema i nyttekostanalyser? Samferdsel 2/2004, s. 28-30. Reliability and vulnerability - a non-issue in cost-benefit analyses? Samferdsel (Journal of the Norwegian Institute for Transport Economics, TØI), 2/2004, pp. 28-30.

The reliability and vulnerability of transportation lifelines

Transportation networks like freeways and interstate highways are the main backbone of modern society. Consequently, the reliability or vulnerability of any transportation network is thus a decisive factor not only in terms of market outreach and competition, but also in terms of continuity, to ensure a 24/7 operation of the community we live in. Any major accident or disturbance often illustrates not only how vulnerable the infrastructure itself, but serves also as a reminder of how easily freight transport, commuting and leisure travel can be perturbed, and how little it sometimes takes to question how reliably and safely one can use any means of transportation.

This research issues listed in this essay have been cited by and incorporated into a research agenda for Critical Infrastructure Protection by the National Consortium on Remote Sensing in Transportation.

A spatial framework for modeling hazards to transportation lifelines

The primary hazards included in this study are avalanches, landslides, flooding, earthquakes, wildfires, and rockfall. Although the primary focus of this research is roads, it is equally applicable to other transportation lifelines, such as railways, canals/waterways, or transmission lines for power, gas or oil. This presentation provides an overview of the spatial framework, current results and limitations, and directions for further research.