Enhancing intelligent transportation systems to improve and support homeland security

The surface transportation system plays a crucial role in responding to natural disasters and other catastrophic incidents. We propose new techniques to enhance ITS (intelligent transportation systems) to improve and support homeland security. In particular, we propose two evacuation algorithms, all-links and fastest-links, and perform simulation studies to compare their performances. These algorithms are part of a smart traffic evacuation management system (STEMS) being developed to provide rapid and efficient response to human-caused threats and disasters, by creating dynamic evacuation plans based on incident location and scope.