State transportation agencies partner to deploy and enhance ShakeCast

Abstract

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is organizing and leading a three-year Transportation Pooled Fund (TPF) project, Connecting the Dots: Implementing ShakeCast Across Multiple State Departments of Transportation for Rapid Post-Earthquake Response. Ten state Departments of Transportation (DOT)—CA, ID, MO, MS, OK, OR, SC, TX, UT, AND WA—have partnered and combined research funds to pursue implementation and advancement of the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) ShakeCast system. ShakeCast is a software application that automatically retrieves ShakeMap shaking estimates and performs analyses using fragility functions for bridges, buildings, and other structures. The ShakeCast system identifies which facilities are most likely impacted by an earthquake and sends notifications to responders in the minutes after an earthquake. By focusing inspection efforts on the most damage-susceptible facilities in the severely shaken areas, ShakeCast can reduce response time and priorities for bridge inspections in the aftermath of a significant earthquake. The goal of the TPF project is to establish or enhance operational ShakeCast instances for all the partner DOTs, while advancing transportation-focused aspects of the software platform. DOTs are uniquely able to take advantage of the ShakeCast technology in that bridge fragilities can be readily derived from the National Bridge Inventory (NBI). DOTs also share the need for prioritized response strategies given their very large numbers of facilities—over wide areas—that have varying vulnerabilities, many of which could potentially be affected by earthquake shaking. The ten-state TPF project will also explore opportunities for DOT-specific ShakeCast software modifications, for example, for enhanced neighboring-state situational awareness and response coordination as well as for long-term maintenance and operations of their ShakeCast systems.