Evaluating Road Utilization during Hurricane Evacuation: A Case Study of Hurricane Ian
Publication: Construction Research Congress 2024
ABSTRACT
When disasters such as hurricanes approach, residents rely on transportation infrastructure to evacuate. Evaluating road utilization is essential for emergency evacuation as it facilitates timely traffic congestion identification and alternative route selection. The objective of this research is to evaluate road utilization during Hurricane Ian in 2022 in Lee County. In this study, traffic data, population distribution data, and sociodemographic data were collected. The utilization level of government-declared evacuation roads was evaluated using volume to capacity ratio and the road density. It was found that interstate highways were highly congested during the evacuation period, while other highways and county roads remained underutilized, which highlights the unbalanced use of roads during hurricane evacuation. Practical wise, the road utilization levels can be used by emergency planners and local authorities to design efficient evacuation plans and improve existing transportation infrastructure networks to adapt to higher evacuation needs.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
REFERENCES
ArcGIS. Accessed April 23, 2023. https://www.arcgis.com/home/index.html.
Chen, Y., Wang, Q., and Ji, W. 2020. “Rapid assessment of disaster impacts on highways using social media.”. J. Manag. Eng.36 (5), 1–11.
Esmalian, A., Coleman, N., and Yuan, F. 2022. “Characterizing equitable access to grocery stores during disasters using location-based data”. Sci Rep 12, 1–22.
Feng, K., and Lin, N. 2022. “Modeling and analyzing the traffic flow during evacuation in Hurricane Irma (2017)”. Transportation Part D, Elsevier, 110 (2022), 1–12.
FEMA. “Flood Maps”. Accessed July 27, 2023.
Florida Department of Transportation. 2023. Analysis Procedures Manual.
Florida Department of Transportation. 2023. Multimodal Quality/Level of Service Handbook.
Florida Department of Transportation. 2023. Traffic Analysis Handbook.
Florida Department of Transportation. 2023. “Highway Capacity Manual 6th Edition Overview”. https://www.cedengineering.com/userfiles/Highway%20Capacity%20Manual%20%206th%20Edition%20Overview%20-%20R2.pdf.
Florida Disasters. “Disaster Preparedness Map”. Accessed April 23, 2023. https://maps.floridadisaster.org/county/EVAC_LEE.pdf.
Hao, H., Wang, Y., and Wang, Q. 2022. “Simulating Urban Population Activities under Extreme Events with Data-Driven Agent-Based Modeling.” Construction Research Congress, Arlington, VA: ASCE, 1125–1133, https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784483961.118.
Li, Y., Zhang, F., and Ji, W. 2023. “Integrated Data-Driven and Equity-Centered Framework for Highway Restoration Following Flood Inundation”. J. Manag. Eng., 39(3), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1061/JMENEA.MEENG-5266.
Li, Y., Zhang, F., and Ji, W. 2022. “Automated Integration of Infrastructure Component Status for Real-Time Restoration Progress Control: Case Study of Highway System in Hurricane Harvey”. Proc. Winter Simul. Conf., IEEE Press, 2475–2486.
MATLAB. Accessed April 23, 2023.
National Hurricane Center. “National Hurricane Center Tropical Cyclone Report, Hurricane IAN, AL092022”. Accessed April 23, 2023. https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092022_Ian.pdf.
Staes, B., Menon, N., and Bertini, R. 2021. “Analyzing transportation network performance during emergency evacuations: Evidence from Hurricane Irma”. Transportation Research Part D, Elsevier, 95 (2021) 102841, 1-17.
US Census Bureau. Quick Facts: Lee County, Florida. Accessed April 23, 2023. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/leecountyflorida.
Zhu, Y., Hu, Y., and Collins, J. 2020. “Estimating road network accessibility during a hurricane evacuation: A case study of hurricane Irma in Florida”. Transportation Research Part D, Elsevier, 83 (2020) 102334, 1-12.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
History
Published online: Mar 18, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Case studies
- Computer models
- Data collection
- Disaster preparedness
- Disaster risk management
- Disasters and hazards
- Engineering fundamentals
- Evacuation
- Highway and road management
- Highway transportation
- Highways and roads
- Hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones
- Infrastructure
- Methodology (by type)
- Models (by type)
- Natural disasters
- Research methods (by type)
- Traffic congestion
- Traffic engineering
- Traffic management
- Transportation engineering
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.