Impact of State Highway Pavement Traffic Overloading Following Natural Disasters

The 2021 Marshall Fire in Colorado was one of the most destructive wildfires in the United States with 1,084 homes destroyed and over $2B in losses in the town of Louisville, town of Superior, and in unincorporated Boulder County. Highway transportation infrastructure is vital during wildfire events to facilitate evacuation, rescue operations, and goods transportation. In the post-fire recovery, highways play a critical role by facilitating debris removal to landfills and transportation of reconstruction materials and services. Initial pavement damage during the fire is generally limited to localized excessive heat from burning cars and vegetation on the road causing surface scarring and raveling. More indirect damage to the highway pavement is caused by heavy truck operations during post-fire debris removal and reconstruction, but there are limited studies investigating this problem. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) generally reimburses communities and agencies for direct damages to pavement from major wildfires, but not indirect damage to pavement. This study assesses a knowledge gap by collecting accurate data on the truckloads and number of trips involved in debris removal, construction vehicles, and other reconstruction related activities after a wildfire. This data would be used to predict pavement degradation and costs to repair pavement damaged by these activities.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Programmed
• Sponsor Organizations:

  Colorado Department of Transportation

  Applied Research and Innovation Branch
  Denver, CO  United States  80204
• Managing Organizations:

  Colorado Department of Transportation

  Applied Research and Innovation Branch
  Denver, CO  United States  80204
• Project Managers:

  Tran, Thien

• Start Date: 20250901
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Heavy vehicles; Pavement distress; Reconstruction; Traffic data; Traffic loads; Truck traffic; Wildfires
• Subject Areas: Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Pavements; Planning and Forecasting; Security and Emergencies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01930639
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Colorado Department of Transportation
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Sep 16 2024 9:57AM