Risk Assessment of Hazardous Materials Transportation for Small and Tribal Communities in Nebraska

Small communities (population < 5,000) and Native American communities in Nebraska, U.S., often lack the means to deal with highway-based crashes involving hazardous materials (HazMat). This research focused on assessing the vulnerability of small and tribal communities in Nebraska to the impacts of highway HazMat crashes. To do so, this paper estimated the expected number and type of HazMat crashes per population in each community. This study statistically analyzed reported HazMat crashes in Nebraska to determine if small and Native American communities experienced a higher crash rate per population and per HazMat vehicle miles traveled (VMT) than large communities and other small communities. Mean HazMat crash rate per population statistically significantly differed between small and large communities, while the mean crash rate comparison between the Native American and other small communities was not statistically significant. For the mean HazMat crash rate per HazMat VMT, neither comparison was statistically significant. For HazMat crashes per population, and per HazMat VMT, small communities had higher mean values than larger communities. Communities on Native American reservation land experienced a lower HazMat crash rate per population than other small communities but HazMat crashes per VMT in Native American communities were higher than in other small communities. Overall, this research provided a widely applicable risk assessment method not only for communities in Nebraska but also across the U.S. without appreciable loss of generality.