2011: Transportation During Emergency Situations

In the last decade, the world has endured a major terrorist attack, a wide range of weather-related calamities including hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis, the specter of nuclear explosive events, and cyber threats. These events have raised the global consciousness of vulnerability, emergency response management, and transportation during emergencies. How are communities throughout the United States preparing for transportation during emergency situations? How are these plans being communicated to the public so communities can be better prepared before and during unexpected events? How are disabled groups, the elderly population, and non-automobile owners being considered in these planning efforts?

To answer these types of questions, the Planning and Environment Group of the Transportation Research Board searched for best Practices in communicating transportation information to the public during emergencies. In order for communities to be prepared for emergency situations, it is necessary for transportation plans to be accessible and fully understood.

Competition Winner

Inclement Weather Emergency - Communications Strategies/Products

Washington State Department of Transportation

The WSDOT Communications Team works year-round to establish its credibility as the first and best source of information. The team also keeps working on ways to educate the public on best practices for winter preparedness, where to get information and safe driving techniques in snow and ice. To keep drivers and the economy moving, WSDOT sent out printed materials to tire stores before winter, participated in public preparedness events and hosted media events at its materials warehouses to highlight what it would use during storms.

After years of being recognized for its communication strategies, during the 2010-2011 fall and winter season, the WSDOT Communications team further increased its strategic resource sharing and reached out to find new communications tools and techniques. The 2010-2011 winter presented WSDOT with challenges. Multiple, unseasonably heavy and widespread snow and ice storms hit a region unaccustomed to snow and ice. Drivers had high expectations of WSDOT to deliver up-to-the-minute information and keep thousands of miles of road clear.

WSDOT uses both traditional tools and cutting edge new technologies (blogs, social media, smartphone apps, and skype) to ensure people are prepared and informed. These cutting-edge tools take emergency communications to the next level, but staff also remember the rule of "make new but keep the old" and maintains its traditional media outreach, such as live radio reports, which studies show is a vital tool in emergency communications. Combining the new and keeping a focus on traditional provide the best methods to communicate to the public in an emergency, keeping the economy moving and giving drivers information to make the best and safest travel decisions.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/

Honorable Mentions

METRO Communicating During Emergencies

Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO)

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) is a multi-modal public transportation provider for the Houston/Harris County region. In addition to providing local and commuter bus, paratransit, and light rail services, the region looks to METRO during emergencies to provide transportation services in support of regional evacuations, particularly of citizens with functional and access needs, as well as other emergency transportation needs. Communicating with those citizens is vital during an emergency, and METRO accomplishes this through a variety of methods, including a website, social media, an information phone-line, and traditional media sources.

http://www.ridemetro.org/News/EmergencyAlerts/Default.aspx

Transportation During Emergency Situations, Notify NY

New York City Office of Emergency Management

Notify NYC is a voluntary program designed by the New York City Office of Emergency Management and the Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications to enhance New York City’s emergency public communications. It serves as the City of New York’s official source for information about emergency events and important city services, providing New Yorkers in all five boroughs with real-time updates on what they need to know, when they need to know it. Registration is free and simple. Users can choose to receive notifications by e-mail, SMS/text, and/or recorded telephone calls, and can request information related to specific ZIP codes. Notifications are also sent to OEM’s Twitter page and can be delivered to taxi drivers, or on electronic road signs operated by the Department of Transportation.

Notify NYC has proven to be an invaluable tool in helping keep tens of thousands of New Yorkers informed about emergencies, school closings, transportation issues and other special events. To date, 69,361 New Yorkers have signed up to receive Notify NYC alerts. More than 1,200 messages have been disseminated, ensuring that New Yorkers receive the emergency information they consider to be significant. In sharing critical information with a community of participants, Notify NYC is an indispensable addition to the city’s emergency communications tools.

https://a858-nycnotify.nyc.gov/notifynyc/

Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission

Michael Baker Engineering, Inc.

The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) recognized the need to plan for the evacuation of Transportation Needs Populations in central Ohio. In FY 2008, MORPC was awarded one of two grants awarded nationally to develop a regional evacuation and emergency preparedness plan for Transportation Needs Populations, and to serve as a benchmark for similar plans throughout the nation in the future. A framework was developed to allow the various emergency preparedness plans in the region to be coordinated and consistent with a regional strategy that focuses on the Transportation Needs Populations. The framework is not intended to replace existing private sector, governmental, or other local emergency preparedness plans. Rather, it is intended to enhance existing agency plans by identifying potential conflicts and providing improvement and coordination recommendations to specific agencies, thus greatly minimizing the potential dangers of miscommunication or inconsistencies between plans. The project goal was to create a seamless framework for the region that builds upon and supplements jurisdictional plans that are already in place.