Cyrus Mashhoodi – Office Chief
Caltrans District 4
- 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?
Caltrans does not develop or maintain any evacuation plans by itself. Instead, Caltrans will assist other agencies with evacuating people during disasters.
-
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?
During an evacuation, Caltrans will control all the highways within its authority as well as all the devices and facilities on these highways. Evacuation issues are included in the general emergency plans. -
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?
Caltrans is prepared for both advance-notice and no-notice disasters, specifically with focuses on earthquake, tsunami, and terrorism attacks. -
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)?
Caltrans is in the process of reviewing evacuation capacity calculations. -
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.
As stated above, Caltrans will control all the highways within its authority during evacuation. Caltrans specified a list of lifeline highways, which will be considered high priority from a maintenance standpoint in case they are used as evacuation routes. Caltrans is also considering the application of contraflow during an evacuation. -
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.
Caltrans currently owns and operates all sorts of state-of-the-practice ITS devices, including CCTV cameras, DMS, HAR, HOV, and ramp metering. During evacuation, Caltrans will utilize these devices to increase highway capacity, improve evacuee information, and monitor the evacuation path. These ITS devices are controlled from Caltrans TMC located at 111 Grant Ave, Oakland. A redundant system has also been deployed to operate all the ITS devices in case the TMC is not functional during disasters. -
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?
MTC is the lead agency for coordination of resources and materials distribution during an emergency. Caltrans will assist MTC by providing resources or identifying needs. -
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.)?
ICS is used by Caltrans. The Bay Area generally follows the California Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS) when dealing with emergencies. Caltrans will not manage re-entry but will assist other agencies by providing information related to highway conditions.
-
Communications Between Agencies: What are the communications protocols between agencies? Are there established procedures for disseminating information quickly and accurately to personnel?
All communications media can be used to communicate with other agencies. The procedure for Caltrans to communicate with other agencies is developed based on SEMS. -
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?
The general public in the Bay Area has never experienced a large-scale evacuation. Depending on the scale of the disaster, the evacuation order will be issued for cities, county, multiple counties or the entire region. Information regarding evacuation is distributed to the public through general public media such as TV and radio. Caltrans is only responsible for distributing highway-related information through its field ITS devices, such as DMS. Caltrans will also provide this information to other agencies. -
Testing and Training Procedures: How often are testing/training exercises conducted? Who do these exercises involve? What drill scenarios have been used?
Caltrans participates in yearly emergency response plan exercises. -
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?
Due to stringent budget and staffing, Caltrans as a primary traffic operating agency cannot devote significant resources to evacuation training. Lessons learned from exercises will be adopted as quickly as budget allows. Caltrans indicates that communication among agencies is very important in evacuation planning. There should be a clear procedure listing how and who each agency should start to contact during an emergency. -
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?
As stated above, large-scale evacuation has never happened in the Bay Area. -
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?
As stated above, this depends on budget and staffing resource availability. -
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 normal duties for traffic operating agencies like Caltrans is to maintain daily transportation network performance. Without extra budget specifically for emergency and evacuation planning, these agencies will not be able to devote much time to training and other preparations for emergency or evacuation planning.
June 26, 2006
Publication #FHWA-HOP-08-016
