May 2007 Developing a Walk-Out Evacuation Plan for Washington, DC TRB National Transportation Planning Applications Conference by Phil Shapiro, VHB

2 Contributors Soumya Dey, DDOT Joe Kammerman, DDOT George Branyan, DDOT David Anspacher, VHB Dalia Leven, VHB Peter Cusolito, VHB Joe Ojeda, VHB

3 Objectives Facilitate pedestrian egress due to an event that requires an undeclared evacuation of District  Terrorism  Chemical spill  Other Identify pedestrian evacuees  Volume  Travel patterns Develop systematic plan to facilitate pedestrian egress

4 Model & Planning Assumptions Initial step of continuing planning process Follow-on planning required for MOUs, SOPs, etc Plan supports evacuation of:  Entire City  Individual Sub-areas of District Includes residents, non-residents & visitors Separate plans for:  Mobility impaired  K-12 students (public and private) Start-up time for evacuee bus transportation: 3 hrs

5 Project Status Initial Analysis Completed Draft Proposal for Inclusion in Emergency Transportation Annex Stakeholder Coordination Continuing Operational Issues Under Review Standard Operating Procedures Must be Developed

6 EMP Sustainability Model

7 Project Overview Determine Evacuation Scenarios Pedestrian Volumes and Routes Emergency Transportation Annex (ETA) Operational Strategies for Implementation

8 Review Existing Information Threat Vulnerability Assessment Emergency Transportation Annex Vehicle Evacuation Plan/Routes Consequence Mgmt Center & Traffic Mgmt Center protocols, procedures, diagrams and maps Transfer Locations Census Data Travel Data Available pedestrian facilities (sidewalks, etc.)

9 Evacuation Structure Transfer Points Collection Areas Bus Routes

10 Pedestrian Evacuation Structure

11 Pedestrian Evacuation Structure (Continued)

12 Walk-Out Routes Pedestrians guided to routes that minimize interference with vehicular travel Pedestrians able to walk on all facilities Pedestrians will be supported on walk-out routes  Information  Police / traffic control  Food and water  Medical Use of sidewalks and a few designated roadways (only when sidewalks too crowded)

13 Evacuation Time Periods Daytime Incident  Most bodies at desks  Weekday - 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  Evacuation of entire city Nighttime Incident  Most bodies in bed  Weekday - 12:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m.  Evacuation of entire city

14 Model Structure

15 Estimating Number of Evacuees (Daytime)

16 Estimating Number of Evacuees (Trip Generation)

17 Estimating Number of Evacuees (Trip Generation)

18 Estimating Number of Resident Evacuees (Trip Generation)

19 Estimating Number of Non-Resident Evacuees (Trip Generation)

20 Estimating Number of Visitor Evacuees (Trip Generation)

21 Pedestrian Volumes Evacuees at time of event  Daytime scenario – approx. 850,000  Nighttime scenario – approx. 700,000 Evacuees that are pedestrians  Daytime scenario – approx. 400,000  Nighttime scenario – approx. 300,000 Evacuees by sub-area

22 District of Columbia Sub-Areas

23 Evacuees by Sub-Areas

24 Destination/ Mode Choice

25 Destination/Mode Choice Choice of destination (transfer point, collection area) is determined by weighted total time  Walk Time (weight = 1.5)  Wait Time (weight = 1) Startup Time (assumed as 3 hrs) Queue Time  Bus Time (weight = 1) Logit model distributed evacuees across all of the available transfer points and collection areas

26 Pedestrian Evacuees by Transfer Point (Inside District)

27 Daytime Pedestrian Evacuees Number of Pedestrians Collection AreaWalking DirectlyTotal Arriving VA #13,50019,500 VA #212,50025,000 VA #31,50030,000 MD #118,00045,000 MD #29,00036,000 MD #310,50026,000 MD #440,00069,500 MD #550020,000 MD #667,00093,500 Total162,500364,500

28 Assignment Uses standard regional model with some modifications to the network:  Addition of non-vehicular facilities  Removal of vehicle-only highway facilities  Removal of all one-way restrictions  Definition of all speeds as 3 mph (4 ft/sec)

29 Walk-Out Corridors Preliminary Draft

30 Corridor Analysis

31 Corridor Volume & Capacity Comparison

32 Corridor Support

33 Research Topics How far are people willing to walk during an evacuation? Where do you direct pedestrian evacuees? Who will wait for transportation and who will walk? What support services are necessary?  Water  Medical  Other How can undeclared evacuation be supported? If sidewalk facilities are insufficient to accommodate pedestrian volumes, how do you dedicate roadways to evacuees?  Limited access facilities  At grade roadways

Questions?