Willie Rotich – ITS Engineer

City of Portland Office of Transportation

1. 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 does have a draft Evacuation Plan, which was established in 2003 and is currently being updated. The Plan has not been used in any actual emergency situations. In the City of Portland, the Emergency Advisory Group, which is composed of chief staff from Police, Fire, and other emergency response agencies, has the authority to issue an evacuation order.

2. 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?
   
   The draft Evacuation Plan covers the entire City of Portland. Its neighboring counties, including the tri-county area in Oregon and one county in the State of Washington, are also covered by the Plan with respect to inter-agency coordination issues. The draft Evacuation Plan is an independent document.

3. 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 Plan was prepared primarily for earthquakes. Other emergencies, such as HazMat, flood and other no-notice or advance-notice disasters, are also addressed in the Plan.

4. 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 City does not have special capacity estimation tools for arterial streets. The Oregon DOT can estimate freeway capacity during an evacuation, and they also have a contra flow plan. The City has a plan to optimize traffic signals during evacuation.

5. 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.
   
   In addition to managing traffic signals, the City of Portland will also send staff to critical intersections to manage traffic. All the operations are controlled from the TMC located at 1120 SW 5th. Ave, Portland, OR, 93204. The TMC also has data communication with other transportation agencies in the neighboring counties.

6. 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.
   
   The City of Portland owns and operates multiple ITS devices and communication systems, including CCTV cameras (sharing with ODOT), system detection, 511 system, and transit signal priority. These devices will be applied in evacuation. The specific plan for their application will be determined from the TMC.

7. 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?
   
   ODOT is the primary agency that will coordinate resources and materials in accordance with ICS guidelines.

8. 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. The Police and 911 center will control the Incident Command System (ICS) and coordinate with traffic management agencies. The draft Evacuation Plan does cover re-entry issues and evacuation of people with special needs.

9. Communications Between Agencies: What are the communications protocols between agencies? Are there established procedures for disseminating information quickly and accurately to personnel?
   
   Telephone will be used to communicate with other agencies during evacuation. There are established procedures/checklists as to the specific information dissemination.

10. 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 City will communicate with the evacuees through public radio. All information will be coordinated with related agencies, particularly those in the tri-county area, before dissemination.

11. Testing and Training Procedures: How often are testing/training exercises conducted? Who do these exercises involve? What drill scenarios have been used?
    
    No testing or training has been conducted for the evacuation plan.

12. 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?
    
    No evacuation training has been conducted.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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?
    
    Not applicable.

16. 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 City of Portland is not as advanced with respect to emergency or evacuation planning as other cities that are more vulnerable to natural disasters; therefore, the city does not have much experience or lessons to share.

June 26, 2006
Publication #FHWA-HOP-08-016