Risk Evaluation and Risk Control in Road Overbuilding of Transport Routes for Dangerous Goods

This article was first presented as a part of the 8^th edition of the International Symposium on Tunnel Safety and Security (ISTSS) in Borås, Sweden.

Overbuilding, i.e. capping or decking, of roads assigned for the transportation of dangerous goods in major cities is being considered more often in Sweden. This type of facility introduces a number of risks and challenges related to rare events, such as dangerous goods accidents in tunnels, with a potential to cause substantial damage, e.g. collapse of buildings on the over site development. Many argue that the major problem associated with risk evaluation of such risks is the lack of commonly agreed acceptance criteria and regulations. 

Approaching the problem from a scientific perspective suggests that the root cause of this problem has not been adequately identified. However, there are strong indications that it is because the nature of the risk is not adequately addressed in risk analysis. In this study, we have structured the problem and propose ways of making progress in the evaluation of risk exposure and risk control. 

It is concluded that several challenges are inherent in the risk management of decking over routes for the transport of dangerous goods, and that these must be addressed in order to be able to control the risk. One of the complicating factors is that it is practically and economically impossible to construct the overbuilding so that it can withstand the maximum permissible explosion load. 

The main conclusions of this study are that overbuilding of dangerous goods routes has the potential to lead to catastrophic events, that the transport of dangerous goods in the future is associated with considerable intrinsic uncertainties, and that the possibility of supervising and controlling the transport of goods is limited once the route is in use.