01506488

Component

This study analyzes temporal and spatial evacuation traffic patterns based on traffic data collected during Hurricanes Irene and Sandy in New Jersey. The temporal analysis shows that the total number of evacuees in Sandy was less than 30 percent of those in Irene. This is probably caused by the late-summer season, differences in background traffic, as well as so called "crying wolf" effect. However, similar to the evacuation departure behavior during Hurricane Irene, people who evacuated during Hurricane Sandy responded very quickly to the mandatory evacuation order. Traffic volumes increased significantly when the official mandatory evacuation order was issued. The spatial analysis shows that the most significant evacuation movements were located in the southern region of the state, closest to the shore area. The vast majority of this evacuation traffic moved westward, instead of traveling northbound along the area made vulnerable by the storm. These evacuation traffic patterns are similar to the typical outbound traffic patterns seen in the shore areas at the end of a summer weekend but with departure times that were three to four hours earlier than usual. Moreover, in examining the evacuation traffic patterns and collected travel time data, this study was also able to identify traffic bottlenecks that arose during Hurricane Irene and Sandy evacuations. The results show that the bottlenecks were generally at merging areas in the vicinity of on/off ramps or interchanges. These empirical observations can be used to improve real-world emergency response operations and evacuation models.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANB80T Emergency Evacuation. Alternate title: Effects of Hurricanes Irene and Sandy in New Jersey: Evacuation Traffic Patterns.

01503729

14-3888

English

19p

2014

Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; Maps; References; Tables

Bottlenecks; Evacuation; Hurricanes; Traffic data; Travel patterns; Travel time

Hurricane Irene, 2011; Hurricane Sandy, 2012

New Jersey

Data and Information Technology; Highways; Security and Emergencies; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2014 Paper #14-3888

PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 27 2014 3:20PM