Modern society is increasingly dependent on transportation networks. The ability of our transport systems to function during adverse conditions and quickly recover to acceptable levels of service after an extreme event is fundamental to the wellbeing of citizens and strength of the economy.
The SAFEWAY project
The SAFEWAY project, a GIS-Based Infrastructure Management System for Optimised Response to Extreme Events on Terrestrial Transport Networks, aims to address the ability of transport systems to function during adverse conditions and quickly recover to acceptable levels of service after extreme events. SAFEWAY develops a transversal solution mainly focused on terrestrial transport modes, including both roads and railway infrastructure networks. Several of the SAFEWAY modules (mainly monitoring and risk prediction) can also be applied to other transport modes such as maritime.
The main objective of the project is to design, validate and implement holistic methods, strategies, tools and technical interventions to significantly increase the resilience of inland transport infrastructure by reducing risk vulnerability and strengthening network systems to extreme events. The University of Cambridge is one of 15 partners collaborating on the project, which is being coordinated by the University of Vigo, Spain.
Challenges addressed
SAFEWAY project tools and interventions will be deployed for critical hazards, both natural and man-made, including: wildfires in Portugal; floods, which currently account for half of climate hazards across Europe; land displacements in the UK, Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal; and seismic-related events in the Iberian Peninsula and Italy. Resilience to man-made hazards such as terrorism, vandalism, accidents, and negligence will be secured by mitigating their impacts with real-time mobility advice, such as TomTom real-time traffic management. SAFEWAY also employs innovative socio-technical elements of psychology and risk tolerance for communities at local, regional and European level, for both natural and man-made hazards.
SAFEWAY’s objectives will address and strengthen the four criteria for a resilient infrastructure: robustness, resourcefulness, rapid recovery and redundancy.