Loss Estimation Due to Seismic Risks to Highway Systems

Earthquake losses due to highway damage depend not only on the response characteristics of the highway components, but also on the nature of the overall highway system (e.g., redundancies, capacities, traffic demands, etc.). This paper describes recent developments for addressing these issues by using seismic risk analysis (SRA) of the highway system. It outlines a new SRA procedure, describes its application to the Memphis, Tennessee highway system, and summarizes research being conducted to further develop the procedure.