Regional and Altitudinal Differences on Road Usage Recovery in Aomori Prefecture Following the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake

We evaluate regional and altitudinal differences in road recovery in Aomori Prefecture following the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. We divided Aomori Prefecture into six regions, i.e., Shimokita, Kamikita, Sannpachi, Tosei, Chunan, and Seihoku regions. Next, we divided Aomori Prefecture into two areas, namely Low Altitude Area and High Altitude Area. In this context, altitude means the height above sea level. Low Altitude Area is under 50 meters above sea level. And, High Altitude Area is over 50 meters above sea level. The cumulative usable road distance ratio of the main roads both for the Low Altitude Area and for the High Altitude Area had been precisely calculated for each city from telematics data using the open source geographical information software. Defining the cumulative usable distance up to September 30, 2011 as 100%, the percentages of usable road distances were calculated. According to the results of our study, we conclude that the recovery conditions of regional roads in different altitude areas of Aomori Prefecture following the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake differed. Furthermore, we also conclude that the land shape of the regions is closely related to road usage recovery.