Office of Operations
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21st Century Operations Using 21st Century Technologies

Emergency Transportation Operations Archived News

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2008

  • Using Highways For No-Notice Evacuations - Routes to Effective Evacuation Planning Primer Series - 1/11/2008
    Evacuations result from a myriad of different events and circumstances. A jurisdiction may evacuate one block of office buildings due to a water-main break, a neighborhood due to an uncontrolled fire, a major portion of a downtown area due to a hazardous materials or terrorist incident, or even an entire city due to earthquakes, hurricanes or volcanic eruptions. While successful evacuations are difficult to execute due to the level of coordination required among agencies, jurisdictions and the public, little-or no-notice events magnify the challenges of evacuating at-risk populations. After a no-notice incident, responders will have a very limited window of opportunity to prepare before an evacuation begins. Good advanced planning—to the degree possible—may aid in rapid evacuation operations, thus saving lives, during little- or no-notice incidents. This latest primer in the Effective Evacuations Primer Series provides officials with guidance on how to plan for evacuations resulting from little or no-notice events. (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-08-003)

2007

  • Communicating With the Public Using ATIS During Disasters: A Guide for Practitioners - August 6, 2007
    This document provides advice on use of Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) during disasters and is intended not only for state and local transportation agencies but for their partners in public safety and emergency management agencies. It offers practical guidance to managers of transportation management centers and emergency operations and to public information officers who may be called on to staff joint information centers during disasters.
  • Managing Pedestrians During Evacuation of Metropolitan Areas - April 11, 2007
    The FHWA Office of Operations is pleased to present a new publication, Managing Pedestrians During Evacuation of Metropolitan Areas. This report presents practices that transportation managers and public safety agencies use to ensure that people evacuating on foot and in vehicles do not hamper each others' mobility. It recommends that planners address the potential for large numbers of people evacuating on foot while others evacuate by vehicles. It includes considerations where the deliberate implementation of a pedestrian evacuation strategy is preferred in urban areas to get large numbers beyond the danger zone. We hope that you will find this product useful in your efforts to improve Federal, State and local capacities to respond to day-to-day or larger incidents. If you have any questions or would like to offer comments that might improve our documents, please feel free to contact Laurie Radow, Evacuations Program Manager, or Kimberly Vásconez, Emergency Transportation Operations Team Leader, Office of Operations, FHWA. Both can be reached through ETO@dot.gov. (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-07-066)
  • Emergency Transportation Operations Planning Documents List - April 10, 2007
    At this time of year, local, State and Federal agencies in at-risk areas review and revise their emergency plans and take steps to prepare for any response that may be required for incidents resulting from hurricanes, fires, severe storms, earthquakes, hazardous materials accidents or other causes. Increasingly, public safety officials are viewing transportation professionals as critical partners in first-response planning and operations related to traffic incidents, special events, or disaster responses. Since transportation operations personnel should be actively contributing to these efforts, the Office of Operations has worked diligently with technical experts in a variety of disciplines to develop documents that may aid in efforts to contribute to evacuation and other emergency operations and transportation plans. Many of these documents are available now electronically, with numerous additional documents expected to be released over the next several months. The Emergency Transportation Operations (ETO) Planning Documents list constitutes an inventory of these new publications. All may be found on the Operations web site under Publications, http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publications.htm, as well as the ETO web site. We hope that you will find the listed products useful in your efforts to improve Federal, State and local capacities to respond to day-to-day or larger incidents. If you have any questions or would like to offer comments that might improve our documents, please feel free to contact Laurie Radow, Evacuations Program Manager, or Kimberly Vásconez, Emergency Transportation Operations Team Leader, Office of Operations, FHWA. Both can be reached through ETO@dot.gov.
  • Application of Technology to Transportation Operations in Biohazard Situations Final Report - March 22, 2007
    The goal of this project, Application of Technology to Transportation Operations in Biohazard Situations, was to develop a more comprehensive and actionable understanding of the role of transportation agencies during a biohazard situation. The documents and tools produced during this project are intended to help state and local transportation agencies perform the roles expected of them during all phases of a biohazard incident. Those roles can differ significantly from the ones they typically perform during other types of emergencies.
  • Best Practices in Emergency Transportation Operations Preparedness and Response: The Results of the FHWA Workshop Series - March 14, 2007
    From 2002 to 2005, the Federal Highway Administration sponsored a series of workshops in 30 regions around the country. These events brought together transportation professionals, emergency managers and first responders to identify issues and best practices in the area of emergency transportation operations, to clarify roles in emergency preparedness and response, and to foster better working relationships among these vital partners. As a result of these workshops, FHWA developed a report titled Best Practices in Emergency Transportation Operations Preparedness and Response: The Results of the FHWA Workshop Series. This document identifies ETO best practices that were highlighted during the workshops. Its companion, released on March 12, 2007, and titled Common Issues in Emergency Transportation Operations Preparedness and Response: The Results of the FHWA Workshop Series, consolidates common issues identified at the workshops in the areas of Interagency Coordination and Communication; Emergency Operations; Equipment; Intelligent Transportation Systems; Mutual Aid; Threat Notification, Awareness and Information Sharing; and Policy. (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-07-076)
  • Common Issues in Emergency Transportation Operations Preparedness and Response: The Results of the FHWA Workshop Series - March 12, 2007
    From 2002 to 2005, the Federal Highway Administration sponsored a series of workshops in 30 regions around the country. These events brought together the transportation community, emergency managers and first responders in an effort to improve recognition of each other's role in emergency preparedness and response and to foster better working relationships among these vital partners. As a result of these workshops, FHWA developed a report, titled Common Issues in Emergency Transportation Operations Preparedness and Response: The Results of the FHWA Workshop Series, that consolidates common issues identified at the workshops in the areas of Interagency Coordination and Communication; Emergency Operations; Equipment; Intelligent Transportation Systems; Mutual Aid; Threat Notification, Awareness and Information Sharing; and Policy. (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-07-090)
  • Using Highways During Evacuation Operations for Events with Advance Notice - March 7, 2007
    Evacuations may involve hundreds or hundreds of thousands of people. Regardless of the numbers, in every instance, the transportation network plays a key role in evacuating people out of harm's way. The disaster environment places unique challenges on mobility and the safe and secure movement of people and goods. As such, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration is pleased to present the first document in our "Routes to Effective Evacuation Planning" primer series as a means to improve evacuation planning and implementation by bringing new ways of better utilizing the transportation network before and during evacuations, to the emergency management and first responder communities. This publication, titled "Using Highways During Evacuation Operations for Events with Advance Notice," catalogs transportation management and operations advancements that may be applied to improve evacuation planning and operations when advance notice is possible. This primer is intended as a tool to aid local and State planners in maximizing the use of the highway network in the development and execution of evacuation plans for their communities, States or regions. Other primers that are under development and will be released within three months are "Using Highways during Evacuation Operations for Events With Limited or No-Notice" and "Evacuating Populations with Special Mobility Needs." FHWA encourages readers to contact the Emergency Transportation Operations team at ETO@dot.gov to comment on this document experiences and offer suggestions to improve this primer and its companions.

2006

2005

Evacuations in the News

A table summary compiled from a weekly review of evacuation news reports.