An Operational Analysis of the Hampton Roads Hurricane Evacuation Traffic Control Plan
The Hampton Roads region of Virginia developed a hurricane evacuation plan to facilitate the movement of large numbers of vehicles as people attempt to leave the region in advance of a storm. Although the plan considers many aspects of hurricane evacuation, this evaluation focuses on its impacts on traffic operations. The evaluation found that under less severe hurricane conditions (Category 1 or 2), the traffic control plan (TCP) performs reasonably well under the assumptions made in this study. The most significant assumption was that all background traffic, including individuals evacuating their homes but remaining in the region, will not use the interstates during the evacuation period. Although this is unlikely, there was insufficient information available in this phase of the study to assign background traffic to the network in any reasonably accurate manner. As a hurricane intensifies to a Category 3 or 4, the TCP begins to be less effective. Ramp metering rates, designed in the TCP to ensure free-flowing conditions on the interstate mainlines, result in significant queues at the ramps and back onto the arterial network. Under Category 4 conditions, these queues would likely result in gridlock throughout the arterial network and lead evacuees to search out alternative routes, possibly negatively impacting the performance of those routes as well. The evaluation concludes that lane reversal is warranted under any storm predicted to make landfall as a Category 4 or higher and should be strongly considered for any Category 3 storm. The study further found that when lane reversal is implemented, the ramp metering rates should be significantly increased to reduce ramp queuing and allow more efficient use of available mainline capacity.
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Corporate Authors:
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Authors:
- McGhee, Catherine C
- Grimes, Matthew C
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Conference:
- Transportation Research Board 86th Annual Meeting
- Location: Washington DC, United States
- Date: 2007-1-21 to 2007-1-25
- Date: 2007
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: CD-ROM
- Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 14p
- Monograph Title: TRB 86th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers CD-ROM
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Evacuation; Highway operations; Hurricanes; Operations; Ramp metering; Traffic control centers; Traffic control centers; Traffic flow; Transportation planning
- Geographic Terms: Hampton Roads (Virginia)
- Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Terminals and Facilities; I73: Traffic Control;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01049545
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: 07-0951
- Files: TRIS, TRB
- Created Date: May 21 2007 1:18PM