Reliability-based optimization with a view to traffic problems

Managing agencies of highways are responsible not only for the global safety of the infrastructures, but also for the safety and the regularity of the traffic flow. Dynamic programming is used to find the optimal allocation of resources with the aim of obtaining the maximum network reliability. The result is a list with the optimal sequence of the sensitive elements of the network to be repaired for a fixed amount of economic resources. As an alternative, the amount of resources to reach a reliability-linked technical goal can be found. The next problem to be examined is the estimation of the impact of the worksites over time. Adjustments are to be made for the application of the optimality principle, especially in the definition of the objective function. The advantages of the procedure are shown in some examples, chosen from the most critical branches of the Italian highways.