EFFECTS OF CATASTROPHIC EVENTS ON TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE AUGUST 2003 NORTHEAST BLACKOUT, GREAT LAKES AND NEW YORK CITY

On Thursday, August 14, 2003, a series of seemingly small events, happening in concert, produced the largest blackout in American history. Shortly after 2:00 p.m. on August 14, a brush fire caused a transmission line south of Columbus, Ohio, to go out of service. At 3:05 p.m. and at 3:32 p.m., two separate transmission lines in Northern Ohio failed. Over the next 30 minutes, five additional transmission lines in Ohio and Michigan failed. At 4:10 p.m., the electrical system connecting the region south of the Great Lakes, including the cities of Cleveland, Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan, to New York and New Jersey experienced a profound failure due, in large part, to the sudden vulnerability of the transmission system. A cascading effect occurred, in which lines sequentially overloaded and then failed, leaving a swath of 3,700 miles--including portions of Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and the Maritime provinces--in the dark. This report documents the actions taken by transportation agencies in response to this catastrophic event.

• 
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/4351
• Corporate Authors:

  Volpe National Transportation Systems Center

  Planning and Policy Analysis Division, 55 Broadway
  Cambridge, MA  United States  02142

  Department of Transportation

  Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  Federal Highway Administration

  Office of Transportation Operations, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • DeBlasio, A J
  • Regan, Terrance J
  • Zirker, Margaret E
  • Fichter, K S
  • Lovejoy, K
• Publication Date: 2004-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 7 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Emergency management; Operations; Transportation system management
• Identifier Terms: Northeast United States blackout, August 2003
• Uncontrolled Terms: Catastrophic events
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00978602
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: DOT-VNTSC-FHWA-04-05,, Executive Summary
• Files: NTL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Sep 30 2004 12:00AM