Improving Tools for Public Agencies to Assess Traffic Disruptions Due to Extreme Weather Events and Natural Disasters

Research Team: Anthony Patire (lead) and Jane Macfarlane

UC Campus(es): UC Berkeley

Problem Statement: Extreme weather events and natural disasters disrupt traffic at regional levels, but current tools fall short in comprehending, forecasting, and planning for such situations. Moreover, communities and cities face a dual challenge. First, they lack the resources to assess how these large-scale disruptions influence local traffic, and second, how their decisions regarding local network and traffic management affect regional traffic patterns. "Mobiliti" is an advanced software platform that can help communities and cities envision, model, and plan for these disruptive events. Created by the UC Berkeley Smart Cities Research Center, Mobiliti excels at accurately simulating the movements of an entire population across a regional road network. The platform is equipped to handle vast data volumes, modeling millions of trips within a metropolitan area, thanks to its utilization of high-performance computing and cloud resources.

Project Description: This project will facilitate mutual learning between Mobiliti’s developers and public stakeholders. It will explore how Mobiliti's capabilities align with stakeholder needs and help them learn how to harness it to explore policy questions. A key focus will be on using Mobiliti to simulate scenarios related to extreme weather and freeway modifications or other transportation network changes. The project will result in the development of a research roadmap and the identification of opportunities for further development and refinement of Mobiliti. Finally, the project aims to define–with the input of stakeholders at the City of San Jose–additional scenario ideas to ensure that the platform meets future city and state needs.

Status: In Progress

Budget: $29,998