Texas A&M Transportation Institute» hurricane evacuation

Prototype Design for a Predictive Model to Improve Evacuation Operations

Tobey — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:18:04 +0000

This summer, many Texans may root for storms in the Gulf of Mexico to find their way to Texas. While area government officials would no doubt welcome the rainfall, past experiences involving mass evacuations along the Texas coast have taught them to be prepared for a difficult challenge should a hurricane hit.

Researchers at the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) recently concluded a three-year project that produced a prototype design for an evacuation model for urban areas to use in the event of a threatening hurricane.

Sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration and the Texas Department of Transportation, the research was performed cooperatively with the University of Houston.

“We had a large, diverse panel that was very helpful in assisting us with our case study of the Houston-Galveston region,” says TTI Senior Research Engineer Russell Henk. “This region represents the most complex evacuation scenario. If we can make our model work here, we can make it work along the entire Texas coast.”

According to Henk, one of the more notable challenges is the decision-making process related to calling for contraflow operations on strategic evacuation routes. (Contraflow operations convert all roadway lanes into a single direction to facilitate evacuation.)

“Implementing contraflow operations is an expensive, resource-intensive undertaking,” says Henk. “Consequently, key operating agencies (and decision makers) involved in such deliberations are understandably hesitant to call for contraflow operations unless there’s strong evidence of the need to do so.”

The prototype model involves a number of inputs such as strength and size of the storm, human factors, and traffic conditions (both real time and predicted).

“The traffic simulation model we developed was the largest of its kind anywhere to date and essentially modeled the eastern portion of Texas, from the Houston-Galveston coastal area all the way inland to San Antonio, Austin and Dallas,” says Henk. “Running a simulation model that size takes a full day to run a scenario. It’s obviously a massive undertaking.”

Even though Henk says the goals of the project were met, there is still work to be done. “While this was a good starting point, and several scenarios (such as Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike) were selected to simulate past hurricane-evacuation scenarios, these events are rarely similar,” says Henk. “A much broader range of scenarios will need to be developed and examined before there’s a reasonable level of confidence that the new tool can be used on a widespread basis.”

A Smarter Way to Evacuate

Chris Sasser — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:17:13 +0000

This summer, many Texans may root for storms in the Gulf to find their way to Texas. While area government officials would no doubt welcome the rainfall, past experiences involving mass evacuations along the Texas coast have taught them to be prepared for a difficult challenge should a hurricane hit.

Sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration and the Texas Department of Transportation, the research was performed cooperatively with the University of Houston.

According to Henk, one of the more notable challenges is the decision-making process related to calling for contraflow operations on strategic evacuation routes.

“Implementing contraflow operations is an expensive, resource-intensive undertaking,” says Henk. “As such, key operating agencies (and decision makers) involved in such deliberations are understandably hesitant to call for contraflow operations unless there’s strong evidence of the need to do so.”

The prototype model involves a number of inputs such as strength and size of storm, human factors and traffic conditions (both real-time and predicted).

Even though Henk says the goals of the project were met, there is still work to be done.

“While this was a good starting point, and several scenarios (i.e., Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike) were selected to simulate past hurricane-evacuation scenarios, these events are rarely similar,” says Henk. “A much broader range of scenarios will need to be developed and examined before there’s a reasonable level of confidence that the new tool can be used on a widespread basis.”

For more information, visit http://tti.tamu.edu/publications/catalog/record/?id=34388.

Using Bluetooth Technology to Aid in Hurricane Evacuation

Chris Sasser — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:00:18 +0000

A bird's-eye view of a typical rural travel-time monitoring installation mounted on a luminaire pole.

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 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.

“Prior to this system, decision makers were put in a very difficult situation when having to choose whether to deploy contraflow or not during evacuations,” explains Tony Voigt, a TTI research engineer. “The new system will give state officials very good information about real-time traffic conditions in the rural areas on evacuation routes, including at what rate traffic is flowing, which will enable them to make more informed choices than in the past.”

Currently this system is being implemented along I-45 from Houston to Dallas, Texas. This stretch of highway is over 225 miles long and will have Bluetooth device readers placed between 5- and 20-mile intervals, but typically between five and 8 miles apart. This system will work by reading the unique identifier (called a media access control [MAC] address) that each Bluetooth device transmits within a short range as it passes by the antennas.

As vehicles equipped with enabled Bluetooth devices pass by successive device readers, the system matches the MAC addresses and then determines average travel time and speed between the points on the roadway. In an evacuation scenario, this technology will be instrumental in providing an accurate representation of what travel times and average speeds are in rural areas along the highway. With this information, decision makers can make informed decisions, such as whether or not to deploy contraflow or how to respond to incidents.

“The information this system provides for rural areas during evacuation scenarios is tremendous, but its capabilities do not end there,” says Darrell Borchardt, senior research engineer with TTI. “Travel-time information will be available 365 days a year on roadways equipped with the system, which will provide motorists current information about how incidents or other weather-related conditions are impacting travel times.”

This photo shows a close-up of the prototype monitoring equipment.

Other important benefits of this technology include a low-cost, low-maintenance way to anonymously collect travel time and speed data. MAC addresses do not contain any personal information and are not directly associated with a specific user.

“TTI‘s expertise helped us prove that Bluetooth technology can efficiently and accurately provide segment speeds and travel time data,” says David Fink, TxDOT transportation operations engineer with Houston TranStar. “The traffic information we can now gather in rural areas will better prepare us for countless scenarios — just one of which is hurricane evacuations.”

Houston versus the hurricane

Tobey — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:00:47 +0000

The hurricane evacuation zones by zip codes for the southeast Texas coast are shown in the above map. Source: http://www.houstontx.gov/oem/evac.html

There’s no way to be 100 percent ready for the unpredictable power of a hurricane. But three years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, one thing is certain — this time, Texans were better prepared.

The 2005 disaster Rita caused in southeast Texas was only amplified by the chaos of evacuation. Tens of thousands of Houstonians were stranded on the road for hours with no water and no gas. Shortly after the 2005 hurricane season ended, Governor Rick Perry formed a task force on evacuation transportation and logistics, bringing together members of many public and private agencies with the goal of finding ways to improve the evacuation process. Russell Henk, a senior research engineer with the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), was one member of the task force. It was Henk who first suggested that phased evacuation plans be organized and announced by zip code.

“The task force made specific recommendations that were wide ranging and included plans for a more orderly evacuation that people could understand better than past efforts,” says Henk. “From what I’ve been able to tell, the zip code plan worked well during Hurricane Ike. The color-coded maps from pre-Rita evacuation plans were not well understood by the public. But everyone knows their zip code.”

The task force consulted with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Division of Emergency Management (DEM). It also held public hearings across the state. The feedback from these activities helped form new hurricane response strategies, including giving pets family member status that allows them to be evacuated alongside their owners. Tailored education-outreach materials about hurricane preparedness and evacuation routes are disseminated using the new zip code approach. This information was sent with electric bills, providing a cost-effective means for giving citizens appropriate and updated information to help them protect their families. The task force, along with DEM and TxDOT, also worked with the oil and gas industry to keep evacuation routes “wet,” or supplied with gas. Buses were pre-staged and standing by to evacuate at-risk and special-needs residents. Cities receiving these individuals were ready with housing and supplies.

TxDOT developed formal contra-flow plans to prevent a standstill in the event of another mass evacuation. Dynamic message signs reminded motorists to avoid traveling to affected areas and gas stations that were low on fuel. TxDOT also refined their “buddy” district system, which matches inland districts with coastal districts to provide support personnel. In the inland districts, personnel waited on the perimeter for the storm to pass and then worked around the clock, clearing the roads for emergency personnel and families returning to survey the damage.

“The important thing for everyone to remember is when it’s hurricane season, be prepared,” says Carlos Lopez, traffic operations director for TxDOT. “Keep your gas tank filled, and be ready to leave or shelter in place as directed by your local officials.”

With a small break before the 2009 season begins, transportation officials have changes to consider based on the lessons learned during Ike. But the teamwork and infrastructure that made the difference will remain in place.

“The success with Hurricane Ike is a product of the good planning from the Governor’s Task Force and the hard work and cooperation among TxDOT, DPS and DEM in implementing a number of new practices,” says Henk. “TTI assisted with various planning activities.”

Texas A&M Transportation Institute» hurricane evacuation

Prototype Design for a Predictive Model to Improve Evacuation Operations

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What Next? Choosing Our Transportation Future

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A Smarter Way to Evacuate

Using Bluetooth Technology to Aid in Hurricane Evacuation

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TTI’s Research Umbrella: Safer Transportation in the Storm

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Houston versus the hurricane

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Bringing Safety Home

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