Dan Caufield – Director, Operations Planning and Development
Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet)
4012 SE 17th Avenue MS-HOP 1
Portland, Oregon 97202
- Evacuation Plan Status: What is the status of your agency’s existing evacuation plan? For example, when was it first developed and when was it last revised? Has it ever been used in an actual emergency situation? Who has the authority to issue evacuation orders?
The City of Portland’s Office of Emergency Management (POEM) is the agency responsible for completing the City’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan, which includes the evacuation plan. The latest version of the plan is under development. Existing plans are outdated and do not reflect a regionally integrated plan.
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Scope of the Plan: What is the scope of the plan with regard to geographic coverage, agency involvement, and presence of transportation elements? Are plans for evacuation transportation management separate from or a part of the general emergency plan?
TriMet provides transit service in three counties: Clackamas, Washington, and Multnomah. TriMet’s primary role during an evacuation emergency in the Portland region is to keep the fixed-route public transit system running during the emergency, for the numerous family, economic, and access to services needs of the people in the region. -
Plan Scenarios: What types of scenarios are the plans meant to address? Can they be applied to no-notice, advance-notice, and/or special event emergency evacuations? Do they have provisions for naturally occurring, accidental, and/or terrorist events?
The primary disaster the City of Portland is potentially exposed to is earthquake. The evacuation plan will prepare for other emergencies such as floods and wildfires in addition to earthquakes. -
Capacity Needs and Availability: Have any models, computer simulations, or other calculations been performed to estimate capacity needs of the transportation system during an evacuation? How much additional capacity is expected to result from emergency measures that are to be put in place (e.g., contraflow lanes, signal pattern changes)?
The capacity of TriMet normal operations cannot be applied or easily converted to that in emergency evacuation. Under conditions of being critically short of employees due to difficulties getting to work, and with potentially damaged TriMet facilities and public roadways, TriMet will likely be severely challenged in continuing its own operations. -
Traffic Control Practices: What is the role of transportation agencies in traffic management and control? What traffic control practices are designated by the plan for use in an evacuation? Examples include pre-established evacuation routes, contraflow, evacuation phasing, regulation of type or number of vehicles (including transit), optimization of signal patterns and lane use, mitigation of work zone impacts, and suspension of tolls and fares.
TriMet will coordinate with other agencies, including traffic management agencies, during evacuation. The specific measures the traffic agencies will take during emergency is still under development.
An Emergency Transportation Routes (ETR) intergovernmental agreement was executed in 2005 among Oregon Department of Transportation; Washington Department of Transportation; Clark County Washington; Columbia, Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties; the City of Portland; the Port of Portland; and Metro (the Portland region's metropolitan service district). The agreement includes an adopted operations plan by the road-owning agencies for rapid damage assessments of ETRs and reporting their status to respective county/city emergency operations centers (EOCs), which will share this information with each other. TriMet has specific responsibilities under the plan to report the status of its light rail crossings over/under ETRs to respective county/city EOCs and road authorities. TriMet is a major beneficiary of the plan, by being able to access road/bridge status information from county/city EOCs, informing TriMet of when to resume bus transit route service. -
Role of ITS: What intelligent transportation system (ITS) components and other related traffic management tools are used in the evacuation plan? How, when, and why are they each used as part of the evacuation plan? Do you have redundant systems? Can you operate the ITS elements from any location other than the TMC? Examples of ITS components include surveillance cameras, variable message signs (VMS), highway advisory radio (HAR), 511 or other traveler information systems (phone and/or Web), interconnected traffic signal systems, high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, ramp metering, traffic signal priority for buses, and vehicle detection systems.
TriMet vehicles are equipped with ITS devices such as automatic vehicle location (AVL) and signal priority. These devices are used on a daily basis in normal transit operations. These devices will provide similar functions during emergency evacuation as allowed by their condition after disaster. -
Resources and Materials: What is the role of transportation agencies in identifying resource needs and in providing resources or materials? How do they assist in transportation service coordination?
See response to question 5, re: ETRs.
Among the considerations for the Portland region's updated evacuation plans will be special needs transportation (for persons with disabilities, unable to use regular fixed-route transit service). TriMet and associated partners who provide dedicated special needs transportation (e.g., TriMet LIFT service) may be able to cancel some or all such discretionary service during the period of emergency, and re-direct special needs service to evacuees who are persons with disabilities. (The Oregon State Fire Code requires, pursuant to federal regulations, that each licensed care facility have an emergency preparedness plan, including plans for evacuation, if the facility becomes uninhabitable due to quake, fire, etc. However, following a catastrophe such as earthquake, there may be a “surge” of needs to evacuate care facilities whose structures are damaged. The region’s evacuation plan must consider how this need will be resourced.) -
Evacuation Control, Coordination, and Management: Is an incident command system (ICS) used? How are transportation needs and resources, and the role of transportation agencies, integrated into the ICS? How are operations coordinated between TMCs, transit agencies, EOCs, and other agencies? Do you have plans for the re-entry of evacuees after the evacuation? How do you accommodate special needs evacuees (seniors, nursing home residents, hospital patients, inmates, people with pets, etc.)?
An ICS is used. The detailed operations procedure is consistent with the national incident management system (NIMS) developed by the Department of Homeland Security in 2004.
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Communications Between Agencies: What are the communications protocols between agencies? Are there established procedures for disseminating information quickly and accurately to personnel?
TriMet primarily communicates with other agencies through telephone. TriMet has set all the emergency contact numbers as speed-dial to accelerate disaster response. -
Communications with Evacuees: Is the public educated in advance about the evacuation procedures? What information is provided and how is the information disseminated? Do transportation agencies have a specific role in media coordination and traveler information dissemination, either before or during an evacuation? Is information coordinated between agencies and/or centralized before being delivered to the media?
POEM will communicate with evacuees through general public media such as radio. TriMet will not provide communication to evacuees by itself. -
Testing and Training Procedures: How often are testing/training exercises conducted? Who do these exercises involve? What drill scenarios have been used?
TriMet attends the regional monthly meeting regarding emergency response. Actual evacuation training has not been conducted. -
Evaluation of Exercises: What aspects of the evacuation plan were implemented well in drill situations, and what aspects of the plan were found to require improvement? What elements of the plan were most useful for a successful evacuation drill? What lessons have been learned as a result of these drills?
TriMet indicated that being a transit agency, having full-partnership spirit with the primary emergency coordinator, is very important to a successful evacuation plan development and implementation. Meanwhile, for cities that do not have significant natural disaster risks, the awareness and preparedness for emergency tend to be lower than those more vulnerable to these risks. -
Evaluation of Evacuations: If the evacuation plan has ever been used in an actual evacuation, how successful was its implementation? To what extent was the evacuation simply monitored, rather than managed, by responding agencies? What aspects of the plan were implemented well in the actual emergency situation, and what aspects were found to require improvement? What elements of the plan were most useful for a successful evacuation?
Actual evacuation has never happened. -
After-Action Report: What is the process for post-evacuation evaluation? Is the post-incident review a collaborative effort among all agencies that were involved?
Still in development. -
Incorporation of Lessons Learned: Have the lessons learned in testing/training exercises and in real evacuations resulted in revisions to the emergency evacuation plan? Have the lessons learned resulted in changes in personnel training?
Inefficiencies identified during monthly meetings will be adjusted as resources allow. -
Conclusions: What specific recommendations do you have regarding management of traffic during evacuations for another agency developing or improving upon their own emergency evacuation plans?
The regional emergency response agency should not rely solely on transit agencies to evacuate the public. The responsibilities of transit agencies should be to maintain normal transit operation and assist in evacuating those with special needs. The emergency coordination agency should consider available “surge” transportation resources such as school bus fleets and operating companies that otherwise would be idle during the emergency period.
June 26, 2006
Publication #FHWA-HOP-08-016
