An integrated solution approach for the time minimization evacuation planning problem

Abstract

Traffic route guidance, destination optimization, and optimal route choice are some of the approaches to accelerate the evacuation planning process. Their effectiveness depends upon the evacuee arrival patterns at the pickup locations and their appropriate assignment to transit-vehicles in the network. Here, the integrated evacuation network topology is composed of two constituent sub-networks, namely, the primary and the secondary sub-networks. We are focused on the collection of evacuees at the pickup locations of the primary sub-network from the danger zone in the earliest arrival flow pattern, and then their assignment to the transit-vehicles in the secondary sub-network. Transit-vehicles are provided from the bus depot in the secondary sub-network. Pickup locations are taken as the sources for the subsequent process to minimize the overall network clearance time from the danger zone to safety. In this paper, we have proposed an integrated optimization approach in such an integrated network to achieve the minimum clearance time. The earliest arrival pattern respects the partial lane reversal strategy, whereas the better assignments are based on the dominance relations concerning the evacuation duration.

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