A mathematical model for post-disaster road restoration: Enabling accessibility and evacuation

•Scheduling of road network restoration efforts under limited equipment.•Dynamic path based mathematical model maximizing network accessibility during restoration.•Decomposition based solution approach that distributes equipment optimally among regions.•Ability to solve realistic size problems according to computational results.

This paper focuses on the planning of road restoration efforts during disaster response and recovery. The primary objective is to maximize network accessibility for all locations in the area during the restoration process so that survivors are evacuated and road side debris is removed as soon as possible. We propose a dynamic path based mathematical model that identifies criticality of blockages and clears them with limited resources. This model is more efficient than link based models and can solve restoration problems for realistic size networks within reasonable time. Algorithm performance is demonstrated using two instances based on districts in Istanbul.