In August and September 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita created many disturbing realities for Gulf Coast states, including the need for safely evacuating large numbers of coastal residents. Five years later, planning and implementation of improved hurricane evacuation information systems using Bluetooth® technology are emerging in Texas.

After these storms highlighted areas for improvement in evacuation plans and procedures, researchers at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) began working with Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) personnel on improving all transportation aspects of the evacuation process. TTI researchers Michael Vickich and Darryl Puckett have developed a Bluetooth travel-time monitoring system for supporting evacuation monitoring. By providing important data about traffic flow on evacuation routes in rural areas, the system will enable transportation officials to make better decisions during evacuation scenarios. Read More.