Evacuating Floridain 2004

Hurricane Evacuation Transportation Workshop

April 5, 2004

Paul Clark

FDOT - Tallahassee

Emergency Management Coordinator

paul.clark @dot.state.fl.us

DOT Traffic Counter Website

Traffic counter data on website: www3.dot.state.fl.us/ trafficinformation

FDOT and DEM selected the 50 sensor locations specifically to support evacuation needs

DOT Traffic Counter Data

• Provides hourly vehicle counts, average speed, historical numbers for that specific day and time

• Each counter senses vehicles in both directions to support the five designated contra-flow plans

• 15 can be activated at one time• Some will have live video camera view

capability

DOT Traffic Counter Data

DOT Traffic Counter Data• Operational Uses:

– Alert host counties and communities upstream of evacuating areas to the arrival time and numbers of potential evacuees on roadways and shelters

– Public information to inform evacuees and others of areas experiencing traffic congestion

– Monitor the actual status of evacuations relative to predicted clearance times

DOT Traffic Counter Data• Operational Uses:

– Evacuation shutdown planning - determining when to divert traffic or shut down interstate interchanges based on:

• average vehicle speed at the sensor and • the time needed to clear predicted vehicle queues

before the arrival time of tropical storm force winds

Interstate 10Jacksonville to Tallahassee

Begin: I-295

End: US 19

Total Length: 131 miles

Florida’s TurnpikeFort Pierce to Orlando

Begin: SR 70End: SR 50Total Length: 114 miles

Bee Line ExpresswaySR 520 to SR 417

Begin: SR 520End: SR 417Total Length: 22 miles

Interstate 4Tampa to Orlando

Begin: I-275End: SR 417Total Length: 63 miles

Interstate 75 – Alligator AlleyEast and West Bound

EastboundBegin: CR 951End: US 27Total Length: 78 miles

WestboundBegin: US 27End: Corkscrew RdTotal Length: 105 miles

Interstate 75Shoulder Use Plan

Begin: Toledo Blade BlvdEnd: SR 681Total Length: 21 miles

Partnerships

• Know who all the stakeholders are!– Local Cities and Counties– Florida DOT– Florida Highway Patrol – Florida Division of Emergency Management– Florida National Guard– Florida Department of Law Enforcement– Florida Department of Health– Florida Public Radio– Volunteer Agencies– And the list goes on

Future for Florida

• Exercises– Statewide Hurricane Exercise (May 3-7, 2004)– FDOT Hurricane Exercise (TBD)

• Continue to look to technology and its uses

• Plan, Plan, and Plan some more!