Safety Assessment Program Evaluator Student Manual

CA Emergency Mgmt. Agency Safety Assessment Program Evaluator Manual April 2011The major highways and freeways throughout the state are part of the Federal HighwaysAdministration federal aid system. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) willevaluate these roads for safety immediately following a major disaster.The Safety Assessment Program can be used to provide engineers to evaluate bridges that are noton the federal aid system. These local roads will be important to the jurisdiction for movingresources to respond to the disaster, and eventually as part of the overall recovery.It is likely that law enforcement and fire personnel will be the first to discover which streets areusable and which are not, because of having tried to use them on the way to provide assistance.Other input on road damage will, of course, come from the roads or public works department ofthe jurisdiction.Roads can be made impassable as a result of geotechnical failure, or from debris caused by thecollapse of buildings or bridge overpasses. Roads constructed on liquefiable material can breakup, especially if lateral spreading occurs. Following the Kobe Earthquake in Japan, and theCoalinga Earthquake in California, debris from collapsed buildings limited emergency response.Photo courtesy Cal EMAFigure 5-14 – Road slipoutPhoto courtesy Cal EMAFigure 5-15 – Scarp damage153