Caltrans will be launching a new initiative to identify and address issues with infrastructure throughout the state in the event of a major earthquake.

In conjunction with the United States Geological Survey, Caltrans announced its launch of ShakeCast V3, which will bolster its statewide response to an earthquake.

Because the health of bridges and other infrastructure is critical to emergency response, ShakeCast V3 will allow Caltrans to identify and address earthquake damages with unprecedented speed and efficiency.

ShakeCast V3 is an application that uses earthquake-shaking data and analyzes that data against performance characteristics for bridges and other structures. It uses a suite of powerful tools to alert first responders to the location and probable severity of impacts during a seismic event, including email alerts, an interactive website and analysis results, all of which are delivered to first responders within minutes of a seismic event.

“Our infrastructure is critical to our state’s health and well-being, and this is never more apparent than after an earthquake,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “ShakeCast V3 means that we can respond to these events like never before, helping emergency responders get where they need to go, and keep Californians safe.”

Version 3 nearly doubled the list of existing bridges in the analysis database, adding 13,082 local bridges to the existing 13,157 state-owned bridges in the system. This means that all 26,239 bridges in the state of California are now monitored by ShakeCast. Caltrans now has the capability to alert, or make the assessment data available, to local agencies of possible seismic impacts to those critical structures. V3 also added to the database nearly 400 Caltrans building sites, all of which have their unique characteristics modeled into it so ShakeCast can assess the likelihood of adverse seismic affects to Caltrans facilities.

ShakeCast V3 is the product of a three-year research project with USGS and Caltrans. Its predecessor, V2, played a critical role in helping Caltrans to respond to impacts from the Aug. 24, 2014 Napa Quake. Within 48 hours of the earthquake, Caltrans inspected all seven Bay Area toll bridges and no significant damage was found on any of those structures. Caltrans bridge inspectors, working in four two-person teams, also inspected 29 state highway bridges in Napa, Solano and Contra Costa counties, thanks to ShakeCast’s ability to deliver localized, timely information based on its modeling and predictive capacity.

USGS developed the first version of the product in 2004, and issued V2 in 2008. It is open-source software, meaning that agencies such as Caltrans can work with the core USGS version to modify and customize the application to meet their specific needs, which would not be possible with a proprietary version.

“We’re proud to partner with Caltrans on this project, as ShakeCast V3 is the best way for the State to guide the initial earthquake response to its critical transportation infrastructure,” said USGS Seismologist David Wald. “Caltrans and has been very generous in that the software they’ve helped develop has been made openly available to benefit many other critical users. Caltrans is one of the most sophisticated ShakeCast operators, and how they are using it is unique in the public sector.”

Numerous public agencies use ShakeCast, including the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose seismic branch monitors the world’s nuclear power plants. ShakeCast is also used by state and federal government agencies, utilities, and numerous private sector businesses.

Moving forward, Caltrans is taking the lead to bring together state DOTs nationwide with Shakecast through a transportation pooled fund study. This effort will enable DOTs to achieve an advanced level of earthquake response, while raising situational awareness and coordination for earthquakes that cross state borders. The value of ShakeCast resonates globally, as well. The United States Dept of Transportation recently sponsored a successful international workshop on how ShakeCast can improve resilience in the global supply chain.

For more information, go to USGS ShakeCast.com.