GIS-based route planning for hazardous material transportation

As security is of concern today, there is an urgent need to review and improve the way trucks carrying hazardous materials (HAZMATs) are being routed. Routing of such vehicles should not only ensure the safety of travelers in the network, but should also consider the risk of the HAZMAT being used as weapon of mass destruction. This paper seeks to identify evaluation factors used to route these vehicles, taking into consideration safety, costs and, most importantly, security. A Geographic Information System (GIS) is used to quantify the factors on each link in the network that contribute to each of the evaluation criteria for a possible route. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to assign weights to the factors, depending on their perceived relative importance. Each route can then be quantified by a cost function and the suitability of the routes for HAZMAT transportation can be compared. The proposed route evaluation method is demonstrated on a portion of road network in Singapore.