Transportation's Role in Emergency Evacuation and Reentry (2009) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Pages 1-73
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
These are decisions that are made by emergency management, law enforcement, and other first-responder agencies. Among the best-defined and well-developed roles of transportation in evacuations are in the areas of direction and control of highway networks.
|
From page 2... ...
From a coordination perspective, the survey suggested that barriers or obstacles to coordination continue to exist across transportation agencies at various levels and jurisdictions and between transportation and other government agencies involved in the process, most notably law enforcement and emergency management. A positive finding of the survey was the extent to which transportation agencies are included in evacuation planning and preparedness exercises.
|
From page 3... ...
This report includes a nationwide survey on the views and practices of transportation and emergency management agencies (EMAs) involved in evacuation planning and management as well as several case discussions covering recent evacuations of various sizes and locations.
|
From page 4... ...
Combined, these shortcomings have resulted in considerable variation within the practices, philosophies, and policies of transportation officials in evacuation management. The low-level of involvement and lack of experience within the transportation community has meant that some of the nation's most knowledgeable and useful sources of information on the planning and utilization of transportation resources for emergency conditions have gone underutilized.
|
From page 5... ...
. The second was a review of the "gray literature," including unpublished planning studies for local communities, DOT reports, law enforcement and emergency management operational manuals, and other location-specific or difficult-to-access reports and studies.
|
From page 6... ...
These include emergency management, emergency response services, law enforcement, and education and outreach. History has shown that the majority of prior evacuations have involved relatively little input from transportation agencies.
|
From page 7... ...
Some hazards develop or move slowly and provide days or even weeks of warning time, whereas others occur with no warning. The latter are called "no-notice evacuations." Hazards can be classified in numerous different ways.
|
From page 8... ...
The amount of notice given by a hazard is important in an evacuation. A long lead time permits complex evacuation traffic management measures, such as transit services; contraflow operations; movement of structures, signals, and gates; and phased evacuation plans to be implemented if needed.
|
From page 9... ...
With warning time, emergency managers are able to determine the extent of an area to evacuate and begin moving evacuees out well in advance of storm landfall. At the other end of the continuum are terrorist attacks.
|
From page 10... ...
10 FigURE 3 scale of an emergency incident and appropriate level of response (Source: nas 2008)
|
From page 11... ...
Shelter analysis• to evaluate the capability of buildings to withstand the hazards conditions and their suitability to be used as refuges for evacuees. Decision making• to develop procedures to assess whether a hazard presents a level threat to warrant an evacuation and, if so, when to initiate an evacuation order.
|
From page 12... ...
The clearance time for each scenario indicates the time from when the first evacuating vehicle enters the road network to the time when the last vehicle reaches an assumed point of safety. phased eVacUaTions Based on the results of evacuation planning studies, the need for special traffic provisions such as contraflow operations, road closures, and police intersection traffic control can be identified.
|
From page 13... ...
Similar to plans in Houston, the strategy seeks to sequence evacuation orders starting from the coast and moving inland. One of the interesting features of the plan, shown in the bottom legend, is that it is developed specifically for evacuation traffic management purposes and not as a protective action plan.
|
From page 14... ...
14 FigURE 4 Louisiana state Police hurricane evacuation phasing map (Source: http://www.lsp.org/pdf/Web_stateMap.pdf)
|
From page 15... ...
These include signs specifically created for use on contraflow segments to convey radio frequencies for evacuation travel Among the best-defined and well-developed roles of transportation in evacuations are in the areas of direction and control of transportation systems. This is not surprising because traffic control and traffic operations are the areas that transportation agencies are the most experienced and best equipped to support.
|
From page 16... ...
At this location, the left two lanes are guided into the contraflow lanes west toward Baton Rouge, whereas the right two lanes continued in the normal flow lanes northbound toward Mississippi. An example of a less sophisticated, though highly useful sign is shown in Figure 9.
|
From page 17... ...
These markings are particularly important in advance of interchange ramps as the paved shoulder aligns with the off- and on-ramp auxiliary lane. The marking on FigURE 6 Fold-down guidance signing for contraflow lanes (Connor 2005)
|
From page 18... ...
In several instances, evacuation traffic on the major highway passed through small towns with one or two traffic signals. In some cases, signal indications along the primary highway were set to a flashing yellow to maintain uninterrupted flow along the main route.
|
From page 19... ...
Although the authors recommended a flashing yellow to give a virtual infinite green to the evacuation traffic, they also pointed out that, if approach volumes are closer to those of routine peak periods, the usual nonemergency timing plans could be most effective. If average delays of 15 min to cross-street traffic were deemed to be acceptable, then cycle lengths FigURE 10 hurricane evacuation route directional shoulder pavement markings (normal lanes at left and contraflow lanes at right)
|
From page 20... ...
By 1998, transportation and emergency management officials in both Florida and Georgia had plans in place to use contraflow on segments of interstate freeways. The watershed event for evacuation contraflow in the United States occurred with Hurricane Floyd in 1999.
|
From page 21... ...
Experiences in Alabama and Louisiana showed that the positioning of traffic control devices and enforcement personnel takes at least 6 hrs in addition to the time to plan and acquire equipment for the event. In Florida, where needs are great and manpower resources are stretched thin, evacuation contraflow requires involvement from the Florida National Guard.
|
From page 22... ...
The principle physical attributes are related to spatial characteristics of the design, including its overall length, number of lanes, and the configuration and length of the inbound and and the theory that drivers would drive at slower speeds and with larger spacing in contraflow lanes. The highest flow rates measured by the South Carolina DOT (SCDOT)
|
From page 23... ...
This was illustrated by I-10 contraflow segment in New Orleans during the Hurricane Ivan evacuation. At that time, evacuating traffic vehicles in the left and center outbound lanes of I-10 were transitioned across the median and into the contraflow lanes using a paved crossover.
|
From page 24... ...
In some older designs, the contraflow traffic stream was routed onto an intersecting arterial roadway. This type of split design requires adequate capacity on the receiving roadway.
|
From page 25... ...
After the entrances are blocked and before the opening of the contraflow lanes to outbound traffic, many of these same enforcement agencies plan to conduct sweeps of the contraflow segments by air and with ground patrols to ensure that there are no inbound vehicles. As a final measure, the contraflow traffic stream will be led by state police vehicles -- for example, in the case of I-10 out of Jacksonville, Florida, state police vehicles were preceded at a short distance by two large DOT dump trucks.
|
From page 26... ...
Areas where law enforcement personnel are most critical are at on-ramps and some of the off-ramps that permit access to contraflow lanes, at the beginning and termination points of the operation, and in the medians to avoid the illegal crossover of vehicles to the outbound lanes. In Georgia, it has been estimated that 74 Georgia state patrol officers will be required over 120 miles of the I-16 contraflow segment.
|
From page 27... ...
Another consideration in determining evacuation shutdown times is the removal of service personnel from the threatened area. Evacuation termination plans try to account for the time necessary to move field traffic control personnel and law enforcement officials from the evacuation routes.
|
From page 28... ...
Among these groups have been the agencies involved in dealing with the evacuees and the traffic on the outflow ends of the contraflow segments. The number of evacuees that are conveyed by contraflow segments can be enormous.
|
From page 29... ...
However, these types of contract provisions can increase the cost and duration of projects, because they may require a contractor to work in shorter segments or use nonstandard construction practices. The construction work zone problem is illustrative of the central issue confronting transportation engineering and planning practice as related to evacuations and emergency management, in general -- that is, trying to maintain a balance between the needs of evacuations and the enormous
|
From page 30... ...
were over the age of 75. A study released by the USDOT and DHS in 2006, "Catastrophic Hurricane Evacuation Plan Evaluation: A Report to Congress," showed that plans for evacuating people with special needs are "mostly nonexistent." In 2006, U.S.
|
From page 31... ...
evacuation Willingness and ability One method of categorizing evacuees is by their ability and willingness to evacuate when emergencies arise or when evacuation orders are given. To illustrate these relationships, the four-quadrant map of Figure 15 is used.
|
From page 32... ...
It was also urged that drivers of transit vehicles receive some level of training and certification to permit them to address health incidents during transport. Experts urge transit operators and maintenance personnel to be trained in and familiar with the National Incident Management System (see Appendix B)
|
From page 33... ...
These include conditions such as intolerable traffic congestion and delay; confusion in selecting and accessing travel routes; and perceived difficulties in accessing the necessary mode of transport. Recently, as more comprehensive evacuation transportation plans have been created, various transportation agencies have sought to better communicate route guidance and transit availability information to threatened populations in the hopes of reducing the percentage of nonevacuators.
|
From page 34... ...
The lengthy warning times afforded by advancements in metrological forecasting makes it possible for preevacuation mobilization activities to occur over several hours or even days in advance of the storm. During this time, activities may include multiple trips between various locations and the incorporation of several activities, such as travel between places of employment, shopping, and home; retrieval of children from school; travel to the homes of friends and family; coordination of several evacuation parties; and the need to fuel of one or more vehicles.
|
From page 35... ...
Study participants stated that information was critical during an evacuation. It was found that the general public needs to first and foremost be aware of the risk level, evacuation routes, and other important safety information.
|
From page 36... ...
A review of Internet resources by the research team showed that online methods to identify special needs evacuees have become an increasingly popular method of two-way communication to assist in the allocation of transportation resources to nonself-evacuators. In Houston, the city's Office of Emergency Management has implemented an online system for the registration of special needs transportation services for hurricane evacuations (City of Houston 2007)
|
From page 37... ...
Representatives perceived self-reliance as necessary, and called for increased outreach to vulnerable populations, including the elderly, disabled, homeless, non-English-speaking and immigrant groups, service providers such as law enforcement, health care providers (including mental health and addiction services) , clergy, neighborhood associations, and community groups.
|
From page 38... ...
During many recent evacuations, access to and exchange of accurate and timely traffic information has been difficult. Comments from emergency management officials showed that they often found themselves "working blind," with little quantitative knowledge about which evacuation routes were flowing well and which were gridlocked.
|
From page 39... ...
Even under scenarios with substantial advanced warning time, conditions can change such that routes of egress become closed, problematic for travel, congested, or blocked by traffic incidents. Because of this, it is helpful to have the ability to communicate to evacuees during their evacuation transit.
|
From page 40... ...
This single-source reference is a "must-use" for any transportation agency involved in any type of emergency transportation work. such as floods, fires, and hurricanes, few agencies have as well-developed plans as those of the nuclear power industry.
|
From page 41... ...
As a result, transportation officials are called on within hours of a disaster to conduct inspections to assess the extent of damage, determine which routes can be opened, and certify critical After the passage of hazardous conditions, evacuees often seek to return to their homes, businesses, and properties as soon as possible. The desire for a quick return is motivated by many reasons, including the need to determine the condition of and extent of damage to property; protect and secure property that may have been damaged or vulnerable to looting; tend to pets and livestock; and check on friends, family, and neighbors who did not evacuate.
|
From page 42... ...
To help the situation, they have instituted a curfew policy wherein anyone caught staying behind the mandatory evacuation zones could be arrested. The curfew, however, was not easy to enforce because police personnel had to use time and resources to arrest and detainee violators while also trying to perform other critical aspects of their job.
|
From page 43... ...
For agencies that do have plans, the activities tend to be focused on debris removal, supporting access control efforts, and returning signal systems to operable condition. In an earlier study, it was noted that TxDOT is one transportation agency that maintains a documented procedure to govern their reentry process (Urbina 2002)
|
From page 44... ...
These bridges connected the east side of New Orleans to the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain and the "mainland" of southern Louisiana, a length of about 10 miles. By the second day after the storm, strategy meetings were held to develop project priority lists and draft contracts to begin engineering and restoration projects.
|
From page 45... ...
Traffic Signals A final example of the role of transportation in the restoration of traffic control systems for postevent reentry was illustrated in the expedited project to reestablish traffic signalization within the city of New Orleans. By contractual agreement, the city of New Orleans maintained the responsibility for the operation and preservation of both city- and state-owned traffic signals within its jurisdiction.
|
From page 46... ...
Despite this, a strategic decision was made to fully restore the transportation system to encourage the repopulation of the city. The planning for formally organized postevent reentry of evacuees remains a largely unexplored topic in both practice FigURE 19 Wind and flood damage to mast arm signal location (Dykes 2006)
|
From page 47... ...
consisted of 43 questions that, using a checkbox and fillin-the-blank format, investigated five key areas of interest. The arrangement of the topic areas generally overlapped the chapters of this report, including the following: Preparedness, planning, and policy• Direction and control• Evacuee and mode characterization• Communication and public information• Reentry• The preparedness, planning, and policy questions were developed to determine many of the basic roles and involvement of the responding agencies.
|
From page 48... ...
It was also evident that the transportation agency was most often the lead agency in ESF 1, and the National Guard and law enforcement agencies were nearly always the supporting agencies. This finding was consistent across the various state, local, DOT, transit authority, and EMA groups.
|
From page 49... ...
The survey showed that 69% of the responding agencies reported using the term "voluntary" to issue evacuation orders and 42% used "mandatory" evacuations. In response to the question of whether or not they could or would enforce a mandatory evacuation order, only 4 of the 33 responding agencies responded affirmatively.
|
From page 50... ...
Other commonly cited resources included traffic control devices such as barriers, barricades, arrow boards, and the like. Less common, though also cited, were systems such as HAR and traffic service and patrol crews.
|
From page 51... ...
However, this command was commonly undertaken in conjunction with other agencies, most often law enforcement and, to a lesser extent, transportation. Although a small number of the agencies indicated that a DOT was one of the responsible agencies, the role of transportation in evacuations is primarily to provide support to these other agencies.
|
From page 52... ...
About 70% indicated they were addressing this need. As expected, the emphasis was highest at the local level where seven of the eight responding agencies indicated special needs planning as opposed to only about two-thirds at the state level.
|
From page 53... ...
In the other category, responding agencies indicated the use of websites, highway VMS, and hazard radio broadcasts as other means of emergency communication. reentry One of the more understudied topics of evacuation has been the postevent reentry of evacuees.
|
From page 54... ...
Preparedness and Planning State transportation officials had integrated lessons learned from Hurricane Ivan and revised the state contraflow plan, which was a key factor in the successful evacuation of Louisiana. The City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (2005)
|
From page 55... ...
Evacuation Direction and Control The Louisiana evacuation plan had been updated in 2004 after the evacuation for Hurricane Ivan. The updated plan included a staged evacuation and an improved contraflow plan, which was prepared and implemented in less time than expected (Select Bipartisan Committee 2006)
|
From page 56... ...
In Louisiana, police and fire department personnel were sent through the city asking people to go to checkpoints where buses would pick them up to take them to the Superdome. Following the mandatory evacuation order of New Orleans on August 28, 2005, approximately 20 buses were used to support this effort (Select Bipartisan Committee 2006)
|
From page 57... ...
With the decision made to evacuate, law enforcement and transportation officials were responsible for developing the mechanisms to initiate the evacuation and carry out the evacuation order. Meetings with local officials showed that fire department officials designated where and when to evacuate based on knowledge and experience of weather conditions, fuel source availability, and threats to population.
|
From page 58... ...
Both San Diego and Caltrans provided mapping services to assist responders and the citizenry during this period. Assisted Evacuation In addition to the threatened population, 14 nursing homes evacuated nearly 1,200 residents in San Diego County.
|
From page 59... ...
Owing to Caltrans' efforts, all route segments were reopened within 2 weeks. Although a controlled reentry was not possible for the entire San Diego County, there were examples of isolated neighborhood-size areas in which a controlled reentry was established.
|
From page 60... ...
Communication and Public Information Emergency planning information is available through the city of Romulus website and through the Local Emergency Planning Committee. No recent evacuations had occurred in this area so residents had little experience with alerting methods.
|
From page 61... ...
The success of the evacuation was attributed to the professionalism of the fire department and law enforcement personnel. Initial protective action instructions to shelter-in-place were provided by emergency responders through the media.
|
From page 62... ...
The public was also notified through EAS messages, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association weather radio, radio and television broadcasts, and in some cases, door-to-door notification from law enforcement personnel. There were no problems with notifying emergency personnel.
|
From page 63... ...
. It took approximately 10 hours to evacuate one nursing home, when a hoist was required to be constructed to safely move a nonambulatory patient from a sublevel floor.
|
From page 64... ...
These include newly created or adapted traffic signs and pavement markings as well as traffic management techniques such as phased evacuations and contraflow operations. In areas without the hazards or population distribution to warrant mass evacuations, transportation functions focus more on support activities such as providing information on open and closed roadways and detours; committing manpower and material resources for roadway closures; performing inspections, repairs, and debris removal on affected roadways; and using Intelligent Transportation Systems to provide en route communications and traffic flow monitoring.
|
From page 65... ...
For example, states such as Arizona and New Mexico do not have plans to deal with hurricane evacuations, states such as North Dakota with low population density and low levels of dependent populations do not have a great need for assisted evacuation planning. As such, it is difficult to identify gaps in practice, "best" practices, or even "effective" practice because the types, scales, and characteristics of the hazards, populations, and transportation networks and resources are so variable across the country.
|
From page 67... ...
. City of New Orleans, "City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan," New Orleans, La., 2005.
|
From page 68... ...
Seedah, "Modeling Hurricane Evacuation Traffic: A Mobile Real-Time Traffic Counter for Monitoring Hurricane Evacuation Traffic Conditions," Technical Report No. 402, Louisiana Transportation Research Center, Baton Rouge, 2008.
|
From page 69... ...
. Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, "Metropolitan New Orleans Evacuation Contraflow Plan," Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, Baton Rouge, 2006 [Online]
|
From page 70... ...
San Diego 211 Website, 211/INFO LINE of San Diego County, San Diego, CA, 2005. [Online]
|
From page 71... ...
Rouphail, "Simulation and Analysis of Freeway Lane Reversal for Coastal Hurricane Evacuation," ASCE Journal of Urban Planning and Development -- Special Emergency Transportation Issue, Vol.
|
From page 72... ...
Federal Highway Administration, "Common Issues in Emergency Transportation Operations Preparedness and Response," U.S. Department of Transportation, Publication No.
|
From page 73... ...
82–89. Jarquin, O., "California Department of Transportation District 11 Geographic Information Systems San Diego County Wildfires Emergency Response," 21st Annual GIS-T Symposium, Mar.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.