# Presentation: 506255

## LSU HURRICANE CENTER

***LSU HURRICANE CENTER***

*Addressing Hurricanes and Other Hazards and Their Impacts*
*On the Natural, Built and Human Environments*

***2001 Survey of State Evacuation Practices***

***Brian Wolshon, Ph.D., P.E.***
***Dept. of Civil and Env. Engineering***

***Planning, Operations, and Needs***

## Who Are We? 

*LSU Hurricane Center*
*Multidisciplinary research and teaching program*
*$500k NSF grant to establish the discipline of Hurricane Engineering*
*Research*
*All aspects of hurricane hazards*
*Engineering, Meteorology, Coastal/Environmental, Sociology, Architecture, Planning, etc.*
*Teaching*
*Nation’s first u/g and graduate degree program in Disaster Science and Management (Fall 2001)*
*Service*

***LSU***
***HURRICANE CENTER***

***To learn more about Hurricane Engineering watch for the August/September 2001 ASCE CE Magazine***

**Notes:**
These topics will be addressed from a transportation engineering perspective.
Using examples from recent evacuations in other states and Louisiana.
And showing examples of what were doing at LSU to address some of these issues here and nationally

## Discussion Topics

*Survey Objectives and Methods*
*Comprehensive literature review*
*“**Unpublished” literature search*
*State-by-state questionnaire survey *

***LSU***
***HURRICANE CENTER***

*Responses and Findings*
*Initial responses for discussion stimulation purposes,  analysis and follow has just started*
*Similarities and differences in practices between states*

*Needs*
*Information/Guidelines*
*Future Research*

*What’s New and What’s Next? *

**Notes:**
These topics will be addressed from a transportation engineering perspective.
Using examples from recent evacuations in other states and Louisiana.
And showing examples of what were doing at LSU to address some of these issues here and nationally

## Methods and Objectives

***Methods and Objectives***

_***Goal:***_***  ***
***Conduct a review of evacuation practices in the U.S. from a ***_***transportation***_*** perspective***

***LSU***
***HURRICANE CENTER***

*Review of Published Literature** *
*Library and Internet searches*
*Included both transportation and non-transportation sources*

*Review of “Unpublished” Literature*
*Phone/mail/email survey*
*Included state DOT and EMA reports and plans*

*Questionnaire survey*
*Email survey targeted at state DOT’s and EMA’s*
*Identify needs, developing plans, fill in “gap” details *

## Survey Questions

*Identification of Practices*
*Planning and command/control/decision structures*
*Operations *
*Contraflow details*
*Traffic control and enforcement*
*Information Exchange*
*Data inflow, information outflow, ITS usage*
*Public Transportation Services*
*Mass transit use, low mobility evacuees*
*Interstate Coordination*
*Similarities/Differences*
*“**Best practices”*

***LSU***
***HURRICANE CENTER***

*Identification of Needs and Problems*
*Information, Practice Guidelines*
*Research*

**Notes:**
These topics will be addressed from a transportation engineering perspective.
Using examples from recent evacuations in other states and Louisiana.
And showing examples of what were doing at LSU to address some of these issues here and nationally

## Responses and Findings

*Survey included every state from Maine to Texas*
*At this time we have received at least one response from every state, except Maine, Delaware, and Texas*

***LSU***
***HURRICANE CENTER***

*General Findings*
*Relatively little published literature in established transportation journals*
*Relatively low levels of involvement from transportation agencies (pre-Floyd/Georges)*
*Evacuation remains the responsibility of non-transportation professionals*
*Many similarities and some differences in practices*
*Most states appear confident in their plans and ability to react to evacuation needs (is it justified?)*
*Amount of planning proportional to perceived level of threat*

**Notes:**
These topics will be addressed from a transportation engineering perspective.
Using examples from recent evacuations in other states and Louisiana.
And showing examples of what were doing at LSU to address some of these issues here and nationally

## Responses and Findings

*Extensive use of the Internet*
*Evacuation announcements*
*Preparedness information*
*Evacuation route maps*
*Real-time information (travel time, incidents, weather, construction zones)*

***LSU***
***HURRICANE CENTER***

*Limited plans for mass transit*
*Buses, National Guard Vehicles*
*“**Special Needs” Evacuees (elderly, infirm, prisoners, tourists)*
*Local Responsibility*

*ITS Usage*
*Primarily surveillance, VMS, HAR, r/t flow rates*

*Evacuation Route Work Zones*
*Contract Provisions to Open Lanes*

**Notes:**
These topics will be addressed from a transportation engineering perspective.
Using examples from recent evacuations in other states and Louisiana.
And showing examples of what were doing at LSU to address some of these issues here and nationally

## Responses and Findings

*Contraflow Usage*

***LSU***
***HURRICANE CENTER***

*All states south of NY have plans, except MS*

*Only GA and SC have actually used it (Floyd 1999)*

*Only SC is planning to use it for re-entry*

*Southern (higher threat) states plan to use all lanes outbound, some northern states plan to maintain one inbound lane*

*Most states have developed plans in conjunction with the state police agencies*

*In most states, the Governor initiates it and the DOTs or State Police end it (in several states, the Governor does both)*

*Initiation and termination criteria vary widely*

*Contraflow “perspectives” also vary widely*

**Notes:**
These topics will be addressed from a transportation engineering perspective.
Using examples from recent evacuations in other states and Louisiana.
And showing examples of what were doing at LSU to address some of these issues here and nationally

## Needs

*Interstate coordination of evacuations*

***LSU***
***HURRICANE CENTER***

***Those that did, expressed the need for information related to:***

***Overall, survey respondents did ***_***not***_*** express a great need for more information or research into problems*****

*Better use of contraflow and contraflow for re-entry*

*Guidelines for signing on evacuation routes*

*Construction zones on evacuation routes*

*More effective communication mediums for public information*
*Including shelter availability, personal services, etc.*

***********	******Is this because there are not any problems, or is it because evacuations are somewhat overlooked.  Was contraflow perceived to be a need before Floyd and Georges?***

## What’s New and What’s Next?

*ITS for Evacuation Management and Control*

***LSU***
***HURRICANE CENTER***

*Contraflow Measurement and Modeling*

*Remote Monitoring for Evacuations*
*Traffic/Weather/Flooding*

*Effective Use of “Secondary” Evacuation Routes*
*Parallel Routes and Coordinated Traffic Control*

***LSU Evacuation Research***

***Other Activities***

*TRB Subcommittee on Emergency Evacuation*

*ASCE World Congress on Hazard Mitigation*

*Future ITE Working Group on Evacuation Issues*