Recommended Practices for Hurricane Evacuation Traffic Operations

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) directed this research project to include development of traffic operations recommendations for hurricane evacuation. This was accomplished largely through reviews of "lessons learned" reports and interviews with staff members of departments of transportation of other states that border the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean and have experience conducting hurricane evacuations. Reviews of state hurricane evacuation plans and associated literature point to many similarities among these states in their approach to evacuations; e.g., most states have some form of contraflow freeway operations. Conversely, few states convert shoulders for evacuation lanes. This document describes findings from among agencies involved in traffic operations practices for hurricane evacuations and offers recommendations for hurricane evacuations in Texas.