CASPER: Intelligent capacity-aware evacuation routing

We propose a new method to perform urban routing efficiently under capacity constraints. This new method helps with evacuation routing as well as other urban transportation challenges. Traditionally, simulation software or shortest path routing combined with zonal scheduling have been used to solve routing problems. Our method utilizes a state-of-the-art algorithm to connect each source node to its nearest destination. It also intelligently takes into account transportation network capacity and traffic flow to minimize congestion and system-wide transportation times. We have compared our method with previous routing algorithms and a common simulation method. We show that our algorithm generates reliable and realistic routes and decreases global transportation time by at least an order of magnitude, without any loss of performance. 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.