Introduction to Special Issue on Hazardous Materials Transportation

Hazardous materials transportation is an activity of vital economic importance for any industrial society. At the same time, however, shipments of these materials create risks—the potential for harm to human health and/or the environment. The importance of hazardous materials transportation issues has attracted the attention of the research community as well as that of policy makers and the public at large. During the last decade, significant methodological advances have been made in the areas of risk analysis, routing/scheduling of shipments, and siting of facilities for treatment or storage of hazardous wastes. The purpose of this special issue of Transportation Science is to focus on important current work in this area.