page_title: Contraflow lane reversal
section_title: Hurricane evacuation
hierarchical_section_title: Contraflow lane reversal / Emergency evacuation / Hurricane evacuation
caption_attribution_description: Hurricane evacuation route marking along highway on the Texas Gulf Coast.
context_page_description: Contraflow lane reversal is the altering of the normal flow of traffic, typically on a controlled-access highway, to either aid in an emergency evacuation or, as part of routine maintenance activities, to facilitate widening or reconstruction of one of the highway's carriageways.
  Usually, the term is used to refer to reversal of lanes which are normally configured for travel in one direction; routinely changing the configuration of reversible lanes is not normally considered contraflow lane reversal.
context_section_description: From the 1990s, many states in the Southeastern United States adopted hurricane evacuation routes from coastal areas using contraflow lane reversals on Interstate Highways. State highway departments have coordinated on plans for traffic direction with state highway patrol agencies, constructed highway median crossovers, and installed signage for drivers and barriers and swing arms to inhibit wrong-way collisions.
  Most evacuation plans involve only a single state; however, the states of Louisiana and Mississippi have developed coordinated plans to evacuate the New Orleans metropolitan area by using Interstate 55 and Interstate 59.
  Current contraflow evacuation plans exist for:
  Alabama
  Mobile via I-65
  Florida (While the following contraflow plans exist, at the beginning of the 2017 hurricane season, Florida launched an emergency shoulder use scheme for hurricane evacuations along portions of I-4, I-10, & I-75. It is not clear if the contraflow plans on these sections of highway will remain updated or will be scrapped. In the days before Hurricane Irma, officials chose to implement emergency shoulder use on sections of I-4 & I-75 rather than contraflow.)
  Jacksonville, via I-10
  Pensacola, via I-10 (eastbound)
  South Florida (Miami/Fort Lauderdale), via Florida's Turnpike and Alligator Alley
  Southwest Florida, via I-75
  The Space Coast, via SR 528
  Tampa Bay, via I-4
  Georgia
  Savannah, via I-16
  Louisiana
  Lafayette, via I-49
  Lake Charles, via I-10 and I-210
  New Orleans metropolitan area, via I-10, I-12, I-55, I-59, and the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway
  Maryland
  Ocean City, via US 50 and Maryland Route 90
  Massachusetts
  Cape Cod via US-6, Route 3, and Route 28
  Mississippi
  Mississippi Gulf Coast, via I-59 and US-49
  New Orleans metropolitan area, via I-55
  New Jersey
  Jersey Shore, via Route 47/Route 347, Garden State Parkway, Atlantic City Expressway, Route 72/Route 70, Route 35, and Route 138/I-195
  South Carolina
  Beaufort, via U.S. 21
  Charleston, via I-26
  Georgetown County, via U.S. 17
  The Grand Strand, via U.S. 501
  Hilton Head Island, via U.S. 278
  Texas
  Corpus Christi, via I-37
  Houston, via I-10, I-45, I-69 (U.S. Highway 59), and U.S. 290
  Freeport, Surfside Beach, and Lake Jackson via SH 288 and SH 36.
  Rio Grande Valley, via I-2 (U.S. Highway 83) from Harlingen to McAllen, I-69E (U.S. Highway 77) from Brownsville to Harlingen, I-69C (U.S. Highway 281) from Pharr to Falfurrias
  Virginia
  The Hampton Roads area, via I-64
caption: Hurricane evacuation route marking near the Texas Gulf Coast
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