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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
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    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Application of the Network Robustness Index to Identify Critical Road Network Links</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1359746</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This project investigates the robustness, redundancy and resiliency of the transportation network under current and future conditions. Transportation planning efforts, especially those involving highway capacity expansions, have traditionally relied on the Volume/Capacity (V/C) ratio to identify congested or critical links, resulting in localized solutions that do not consider system-wide impacts related to congestion, security and emergency response. Members of the research team recently developed the Network Robustness Index (NRI): a new, comprehensive, system-wide approach for identifying critical links and evaluating transportation network performance. It relies on readily available sources of data from travel demand forecasting models. Analysis of three hypothetical networks has demonstrated that NRI-based solutions yield far greater system-wide benefits than traditional (V/C) solutions, as measured by travel-time savings (Scott et al. 2006). While the NRI has been tested on hypothetical networks, it has not yet been applied to a real world road network. As part of the current project, it is proposed to utilize actual road networks and origin/destination (O/D) pairs as input data to assess which network links are considered the most vulnerable in Chittenden County, Vermont. The integrated UrbanSim/TRANSIMS model will provide the inputs needed to calculate the NRI for Chittenden County. This will include information about specific road networks, traffic volumes and link capacities, and origin-destination flows. Researchers will use the NRI to identify specific road links that are the most critical or valuable with respect to maintaining the robustness of the overall road network system within Chittenden County based on average peak period traffic conditions. The most critical links identified by the NRI will be compared for overlap with those identified by other more traditional measures.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2015 01:00:59 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1359746</guid>
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      <title>Network Robustness Index: A Comprehensive Spatial-Based Measure for Transportation Infrastructure Management (Part 2)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1359727</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This project investigates the robustness, redundancy and resiliency of the transportation network under current and future conditions. Transportation planning efforts, especially those involving highway capacity expansions, have traditionally relied on the Volume/Capacity (V/C) ratio to identify congested or critical links, resulting in localized solutions that do not consider system-wide impacts related to congestion, security and emergency response. Members of the research team recently developed the Network Robustness Index (NRI): a new, comprehensive, system-wide approach for identifying critical links and evaluating transportation network performance. It relies on readily available sources of data from travel demand forecasting models. Analysis of three hypothetical networks has demonstrated that NRI-based solutions yield far greater system-wide benefits than traditional (V/C) solutions, as measured by travel-time savings (Scott et al. 2006). While the NRI has been tested on hypothetical networks, it has not yet been applied to a real world road network. As part of the current project, it is proposed to utilize actual road networks and origin/destination (O/D) pairs as input data to assess which network links are considered the most vulnerable in Chittenden County, Vermont. The integrated UrbanSim/TRANSIMS model will provide the inputs needed to calculate the NRI for Chittenden County. This will include information about specific road networks, traffic volumes and link capacities, and origin-destination flows. Researchers will use the NRI to identify specific road links that are the most critical or valuable with respect to maintaining the robustness of the overall road network system within Chittenden County based on average peak period traffic conditions. The most critical links identified by the NRI will be compared for overlap with those identified by other more traditional measures.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2015 01:00:40 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1359727</guid>
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      <title>Travel Importance and Strategic Investment in Vermont's Transportation Assets</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1357363</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Studies of the stated preferences of travelers indicate that different travelers value trips differently and suggest that non-discretionary trips should be treated differently from discretionary trips. The current Network Robustness Index (NRI) calculation treats all trips as equally valuable and equally important. While treating all trips as equally important can be considered a socially-equitable approach and it is the approach that is most common in practice, this project argues that the inclusion of trip-importance with respect to the reason for a trip is needed to move toward a more efficient modeling approach which provides information that is useful for strategic re-investment and strategic disinvestment. This project proposes to include consideration of the reason for travel, and the monetary value of different trip purposes, into the NRI methodology. Including trip values in the modeling approach will allow decision-makers to examine the impacts of travel-time delays to both discretionary and non-discretionary passenger trips on the entire network. In addition, consideration will be given to how delays to freight may affect the network. The types of decisions that are affected include prioritization of maintenance and improvement projects, influencing of route-choices and emergency-routes, and the need for development of communications infrastructure.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2015 01:01:12 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1357363</guid>
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