The Role of Transit in Emergency Evacuation Special Report 294 (2008) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix B Literature Review
Appendix B Literature Review
Pages 140-170
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prepared a companion report that evaluated emergency evacuation plans in the Gulf Coast region (USDOT 2006) (see Table B-1 and the discussion in the following section)
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Byrnes, Twenty metropolitan Evaluation of emergency response and cies: A Review of the Practices of et al. 2007 areas evacuation plans of state DOTs, transit State Departments of Transportation, agencies, and metropolitan planning orga Metropolitan Planning Organiza- nizations in 20 metropolitan areas with tions, and Transit Agencies in higher-than-average proportions of minor 20 Metropolitan Areas ity, low-income, limited-English-proficient, and zero-vehicle households Strategies in Emergency Prepared- National Consortium on the National Special-needs populations ness for Transportation-Dependent Coordination of Human Services Populations Transportation, 2006 (continued on next page)
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Cox for the American National Evacuation capacity of the 37 largest 2006 Highway Users Alliance, 2006 urban areas, with an emphasis on highway capacity Effects of Catastrophic Events on John A Volpe National Trans Selected urban areas In-depth examination of the effects of Transportation System Management portation Systems Center, with catastrophic four catastrophic emergency incidents on and Operations: Cross Cutting Study Cambridge, Mass., 2003 events transportation systems: the September 11 terrorist attack in New York City; the September 11 terrorist attack in the Washington, D.C., area; the 2001 CSX rail tunnel fire in Baltimore; and the 1994 earthquake in Northridge, California Identification and Analysis of Factors L. J.
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. D HS peer review teams rated 27 percent of state emergency operations plans and only 10 per cent of urban area plans "sufficient" with respect to the adequacy of the plan; the majority fell into the "partially sufficient" category (DHS 2006, 30)
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, as well as high population density, as an impetus for the development and maintenance of robust emergency plans in these states. The companion USDOT study mentioned earlier focuses more specifi cally on a review of the evacuation plans of responsible state and local juris dictions in the five hurricane-prone Gulf Coast states -- Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
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According to the report, most evacuation plans reviewed did not consider these special needs. The report's recom mendations call for the following: • Joint development of regional plans for mass evacuations for events on the scale of Hurricane Katrina by state and local officials and appropri ate federal agencies, providers of all modes of transportation and shelters, and representatives of various special-needs populations, among others.
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State and federal agencies have similar plans, with evacuation levels scaled to the expected severity of each hurricane. Despite the many strengths of the state's emergency management struc ture, the Florida study found that relatively few transit agencies maintain formal agreements with other transit agencies or local or regional govern A t least two other detailed primers are planned for the Routes to Effective Evacuation Planning Primer Series -- one on integrating multiple modes into evacuation planning for events with no notice and another on evacuating populations with special mobility requirements.
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. The defini tion of transportation-disadvantaged is very broad, encompassing not only vulnerable populations without access to private vehicles but also 10 A mong the 29 counties that responded to the CUTR survey, only 40 percent of the fixed-route systems had such agreements and only 22 percent of the community transportation coordinators (Goodwill and Reep 2005, 38)
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14 P ublic Law 109-295, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2007, requires the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide guidance for incorporating persons with disabilities or other special needs into all aspects of emergency management, including evacua tion, housing, sheltering, transportation, and communications.
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commis sioned a study of the emergency response and evacuation plans of state DOTs, transit agencies, and metropolitan planning organizations in 20 metropolitan areas with higher-than-average proportions of minor ity, low-income, limited-English-proficiency, and zero-vehicle households (Bailey et al.
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• Develop strategies for effective communication of emergency plans on the basis of demographic information about concentrations of limited English-proficiency and other special-needs populations, as well as out reach to community-based organizations. • Encourage transit agencies to be clear about their role in the event of an emergency; understand command and control procedures for use of their assets; and improve communication and coordination with county and state emergency management agencies, which have lead responsibil ity for emergency response and evacuation.
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• Information on how, when, and where transportation services will be provided in an emergency (e.g., route maps and transit stop locations provided well in advance of such an event) , as well as methods for com municating with vulnerable populations in a variety of accessible formats during an emergency.
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In fact, the report points to one urban area that had arranged with a local school district and its paratransit provider to use existing lift equipped vehicles to assist with evacuation of persons with disabilities in a general emergency. As with the DHS study, USDOT had its Office of Civil Rights participate in its study of the catastrophic evacuation plans of the Gulf Coast states.17 The study report reinforces the finding of the DHS study that plans for evacuating disabled persons who are living independently were not well 16 A review panel of 11 disability subject-matter experts was formed to review the documents sub mitted by the state and urban areas participating in the Nationwide Plan Review.
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. In an emergency, communicating with vulnerable populations, many of whom are potential transit users should an evacuation prove necessary, presents special challenges.
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Thus, highway capacity and coordina tion between bus and automobile traffic are key issues for consideration in planning for a successful evacuation.18 The method used to evaluate and rate evacuation capacity in the AHUA study was based on three factors: (a) exit capacity -- an estimate of the abil ity of roads and highways leading out of an urban area to accommodate the evacuating population, (b)
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The report offers several suggestions for improving evacuation by transit: • Establishing expedited exclusive bus routes so that buses could avoid the worst traffic congestion and make return trips, increasing the numbers of those who could be evacuated.20 • Establishing agreements among transportation providers, including standby or expedited contracts, in advance of an emergency so that operators 19 D epending on the emergency, the rail system itself could be compromised. 20 W here they are available, strategic use of lower-capacity exit routes, such as two-lane arterials, as exclusive bus routes might be preferable to attempting to enforce exclusive bus lanes on over crowded major highways being used by cars.
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Contraflow for Emergency Evacuation One means of increasing highway capacity is to use contraflow techniques to increase traffic flow dramatically during an emergency evacuation. Con traflow involves the reversal of traffic flow on one or more of the inbound lanes and shoulders of roads and highways for use in the outbound direc tion to increase evacuation capacity by using both sides of a roadway (Wolshon et al.
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Effect of Transit System Characteristics on Emergency Transit Use A considerable body of literature exists on the factors influencing transit ridership (Taylor and Fink 2007) , several of which could affect the pro pensity of urban area residents to use transit in an emergency evacuation.
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If they are to use transit successfully during such an event, emergency managers and transit service providers must provide emergency response and evacuation information in appropriate languages. Role of Transit in Transport for Special Events and Emergency Evacuation Exercises Special events, such as the Olympics, major sports events, and Fourth of July celebrations on the National Mall, can provide an indication of the surge capacity of transit systems and highways in nonemergency conditions.
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. Many other urban areas conduct tabletop exercises and drills each year to test one or more components of emer gency response and evacuation plans that may involve transit (e.g., annual hurricane exercises in many Gulf Coast states and bistate exercises to test evacuation of New Jersey commuters across the Hudson River in the event of an emergency in Manhattan)
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. Following Mayor Giuliani's instruction to evacuate Lower Manhattan a little more than 2 hours after the first plane crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center during the morning peak hour, transportation agencies were faced with the daunting task of evacuating some 1.2 mil lion workers and residents of the area (NTSC 2003)
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Transit also played a role following the terrorist strike on the Pentagon. Like New York, Washington, D.C., has one of the highest proportions of transit use in the nation -- 16 percent of commuters use it to get to work destroyed in the World Trade Center towers' collapse (American Public Transportation Associa tion 2001)
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They include the need for the following: • Advance planning and a well-established chain of command, because transportation officials must begin to implement evacuation plans and institute recovery procedures almost immediately after an emergency. • A well-rehearsed communications plan covering both internal and interagency communications.
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The Golden Gate Ferry and Golden Gate Transit Bus System provided another option for commuters, the Golden Gate Bridge being undamaged by the earthquake. Some of the 30,000 to 40,000 drivers diverted from the Bay Bridge used the Golden Gate Ferry and Richmond–San Rafael Bridge as alternatives, and to a lesser extent the Golden Gate Transit Bus System.29 Overall, transit played a major role as an alternative mode of travel after the earthquake (Deakin 1991)
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. City streets were closed in the vicinity of the tunnel; the Maryland Transit Administration subway station closest to the fire was shut down; buses were rerouted around the closures; and light rail service in the vicinity of the water main break was disrupted, as was MARC commuter rail and Oriole game-day service.
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Particularly relevant for the present study, only a small fraction of states and urban areas have incorporated all available modes of transpor tation into their evacuation plans. Plans of state and local jurisdictions in the five hurricane-prone Gulf Coast states, which face recurring seasonal hazards and have high population densities, are generally rated effective for highway evacuations.
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Many of the studies reviewed in this survey of the literature offer sug gestions for strengthening the role of transit in emergency evacuations: • Inclusion of transit providers, as well as social service agencies, in the development of emergency plans. • Identification of transit-dependent populations and those requiring special assistance in an evacuation through special registries and com puter mapping and provision of this information to emergency respond ers, including information on where these individuals should be taken, well in advance of an event.
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2007. Transportation Equity in Emergencies: A Review of the Practices of State Departments of Transportation, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, and Transit Agencies in 20 Metropolitan Areas.
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2006. Using Highways During Evacuation Operations for Events with Advance Notice: Routes to Effective Evacuation Planning Primer Series.
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2007. September 7, 2006 Central Business District Evacuation Exercise After Action Report.
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2001. National Review of Hurricane Evacuation Plans and Policies.
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