Title: Risk-based GIS model for hazardous materials routing in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates as a case study

Authors: Iyad Sahnoon; Abdallah Shanableh; Khaled Hamad

Addresses: Tatweer, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates ' Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates ' Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Abstract: Hazardous materials (HAZMATs) routing is a daily activity for organisations involved in transporting HAZMAT shipments to destinations within their jurisdictions. HAZMAT shipments need to be transported safely without posing significant risk to human and environmental health. While traditional routing is based on travel cost, represented by travel time or distance, this paper presents a risk-based geographic information system (GIS) model for finding the least-risky routes for HAZMAT shipments. Using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), the proposed model combines multiple risks using importance weights into a single, comprehensive travel risk factor. The risks considered in the model include: travel time, travel distance, risk to exposed population, and risks due to traffic air and noise emissions. To test the proposed model, a comprehensive GIS-database was built for the main roads in the City of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The developed model, combined with the GIS-database, allows finding the least-risky route between any two destinations based on weighed risks or constraints. The proposed methodology is general enough to be applied to any case study worldwide.

Keywords: HAZMAT routing; multi-objective routing; risk-based routing; analytical hierarchy process; AHP; United Arab Emirates; UAE; GIS models; hazardous materials; Sharjah; case study; HAZMAT shipments; geographic information systems; multiple risks; risk assessment; travel time; travel distance; exposure risks; traffic emissions; air pollution; noise emissions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSOC.2016.077509

International Journal of Sustainable Society, 2016 Vol.8 No.2, pp.96 - 108

Received: 30 Oct 2014
Accepted: 02 Oct 2015
Published online: 04 Jul 2016 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article