Item: STATEWIDE APPLICATION OF THE AVALANCHE HAZARD INDEX
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Title: STATEWIDE APPLICATION OF THE AVALANCHE HAZARD INDEX
Proceedings: International Snow Science Workshop Proceedings 2023, Bend, Oregon
Authors:
- David Hamre [ David Hamre and Associates LLC, Anchorage, AK., USA ]
- Jordy Hendrikx [ Dynamic Avalanche Consulting, Revelstoke, B.C., CAN ] [ Antarctica New Zealand, Christchurch, New Zealand ] [ Department of Geosciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Tromso, Norway ]
- Chris Wilbur [ Wilbur Engineering, Inc., Durango, CO., USA ]
- Alan Jones [ Dynamic Avalanche Consulting, Revelstoke, B.C., CAN ]
Date: 2023-10-08
Abstract: The Avalanche Hazard Index (AHI) (Schaerer 1989, Hendrikx and Owens 2008) has been a useful tool for expressing avalanche risk to highways and railroads for over 30 years. During this time, the AHI method has been applied to many North American and other international transportation corridors. The use of standardized AHI inputs allows for direct comparisons between programmatic risk reduction approaches and has helped guide program managers to make appropriate risk reductions on a broad basis. Recent work has identified the need to update input parameters with new risk findings and to allow for improved comparison of risk reduction approaches on a path-by-path basis. In this paper, we discuss these approaches for the AHI as used in a recent statewide analysis of the State of Alaska highway system. In total, our analysis in Alaska considered 16 state highways, with 292 avalanche paths and 265 miles of avalanche-vulnerable roadway. The impetus for this project was the need to understand and quantify the transition from predominantly artillery-based risk reduction methods to other approaches in the future, for example, Remote Avalanche Control Systems (RACS). Important input variables were examined in light of recent findings. Waiting traffic variables, including secondary encounter probability, were examined. The result of these changes to input variables, which we term the "Consultants' Best Estimate" (CBE), needs to be considered uniformly across an analysis. It allows for direct comparisons within a particular analysis and, in many cases, is expected to describe modern risk values more accurately.
Object ID: ISSW2023_O13.01.pdf
Language of Article: English
Presenter(s): David Hamre
Keywords: Avalanche Hazard Index (AHI), Consultants Best Estimate (CBE), highway avalanche risk, Remote Avalanche Control Systems (RACS), Advanced Forecasting Technology (AFT)
Page Number(s): 1149 - 1154
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