Shortest-Path-Based Resilience Analysis of Urban Road Networks

Resilience of critical infrastructure such as road networks is crucial to maintain provision of essential logistics services even and especially during disruptive events. This paper proposes a new method for assessing the resilience of urban road networks using shortest path analysis. The method is based on representative routes which connect selected Points of Interest with service providers. By comparing reachability and shortest path lengths for these routes in an intact road network with those in a compromised network, weakly connected areas are detected and the overall network resilience against the respective disruption analysed. To that end, the paper proposes the Robustness of Accessibility index as a novel score for the resilience of critical infrastructure. To demonstrate the proposed method, a case study of flooding in Trier, Germany, provides insights into the vulnerability of the city’s road network in terms of potential response delays in emergency logistics. Such an analysis can help policymakers and planners improve the robustness and reliability of critical infrastructure and logistics processes.