Physical Impacts of 2020 Labor Day Wildfires to Oregon Highways

Wildfires can be destructive to highway infrastructure. Despite the substantial number of wildfires experienced every year, research on the physical impacts of wildfire on highways has been understudied. This research examines historical highway physical damage from wildfires. To accomplish our research objectives, this research suggests a way to categorize the physical damage caused by these wildfires to roads by using carefully selected statistics gathered from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). As a result, the dataset in this study has been classified to represent physical, roadway, and traffic impacts. The physical characteristics on the highways researched during the 2020 Oregon Labor Day wildfires (Riverside, Beachie Creek, Lionshead, Holiday Farm and Archie Creek) indicated about 56% of the highways were affected. The roadway impacts, which included damage from hazard trees, damage to various structures - guardrail, signs, and delineators as well as bridges, slope/rock scaling damage and pavement destruction - averaged 39% for the highways, while the four of eight arterial highway routes studied in the Oregon Cascades saw a 14% reduction in annual average daily traffic (AADT). These results can be used to assist engineers, maintenance personnel, and emergency personnel as they strive to assess physical damage to highways from wildfires and serve as a baseline for measuring and assessing potential future wildfire highway impacts.