Identifying changes in critical locations for transportation networks using centrality

Abstract

Identifying critical locations in road networks assists in reducing the risks of intermittent services and increases the quality of life. Complex network applications are used in transportation networks to identify critical locations from a topological point of view. However, critical locations change when there are disruptions and people move towards a specific service inside its catchment area. In this chapter, a modified betweenness centrality is used to identify critical locations when moving towards a single service. This index, the origin-destination betweenness centrality, is used to identify important locations in the baseline scenario for a case study from Kathmandu, Nepal. Furthermore, random disruptions with increasing magnitude are simulated to understand a network’s behavior and to identify the changes in those critical locations under extreme conditions. The results demonstrated that the origin-destination betweenness centrality is an effective index. Furthermore, random disruption simulations can assist decision-makers in preparing recovery plans.