TxDOT's five goals: reduce congestion, enhance safety, expand economic opportunity, improve air quality and increase the value of transportation assets.
AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hurricane season has arrived along with a flurry of activity around the State -- government agencies, volunteer groups and private sector partners, all getting ready for the next big storm.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) plays a critical role in storm education, evacuation and recovery. So each year, along with its hundreds of partners around the state, the department begins, months ahead of time, preparing for the possibility of seasonal storms.
"Preparations for the hurricane season begin at the end of the previous year while experiences and lessons learned are still fresh on the mind," explained Amadeo Saenz, TxDOT executive director.
"TxDOT divisions and districts meet early to talk about what worked and what didn't," Saenz noted. "With each event, we learn more about the procedures we can put in place to bring the citizens of Texas to safety."
As the hurricane season draws near, TxDOT starts an intensive review and training preparedness program to make sure emergency personnel and systems are in place to handle potential situations.
An important part of the preparedness program is reviewing the TxDOT Emergency Management Plan as early as possible. Video teleconferences with division and district emergency personnel across the state begin early in the year with an extensive review of the components of the plan before a hurricane hits the Texas coast. Responders are prepped on logistical support teams, evacuation, reentry plans and other emergency policies and procedures including reviewing and updating phone lists and Web sites.
Seasonal training begins early to prepare personnel on emergency traffic control measures, debris removal and other recovery procedures that are put in place immediately following the storm. Employees are also trained to serve on Courtesy Patrols during evacuations. After each storm or event, employees share experiences including situations with wildlife (snakes, alligators and wild hogs), downed electrical wires, and living and working for several weeks in a primitive and sometimes dangerous environment. All this shared information is rolled into a number of fairly intensive and well-structured training programs throughout the year.
TxDOT also participates in regional and statewide emergency drills involving other agencies and local jurisdictions throughout the year.
Equally important on the preparedness list are actions to identify and prepare facilities and equipment for quick mobilization and making sure contraflow routes are open and available (no lane closures). TxDOT personnel also identify -- well in advance of a storm -- locations of comfort stations along designated evacuation routes.
Division traffic operations personnel review evacuation plans to be prepared to open -- if necessary -- evaculanes or to implement contraflow measures. Dynamic Message Signs (DMS) are tested and made ready to communicate emergency messages to travelers across the state, including frequent warnings to citizens in other parts of the state to not travel to the affected areas.
Each year, personnel evaluate the agency's external and internal communications efforts designed to keep employees and the public informed. A comprehensive hurricane preparedness section on the agency's Web site includes information on road conditions and evacuation procedures, in addition to links to other agencies with information on local conditions including the www.texasonline.com, a state Web site. Regional maps online show evacuation routes, all accessible on the Web at TxDOT's site, www.txdot.gov.
For more information contact Government & Public Affairs media relations at 512 463-8588.
The Texas Department of Transportation
The Texas Department of Transportation is responsible for maintaining nearly 80,000 miles of road and for supporting aviation, rail and public transportation across the state. TxDOT and its 14,000 employees strive to empower local leaders to solve local transportation problems, and to use new financial tools, including tolling and public-private partnerships, to reduce congestion and pave the way for future economic growth while enhancing safety, improving air quality and preserving the value of the state's transportation assets. Find out more at www.txdot.gov. Also, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/txdot, fan us on Facebook (www.txdot.gov/facebook) and check out YouTube (www.youtube.com/txdotpio)
Texas Department of Transportation
What's new?
From last year to this year, even more procedural improvements equates to a more efficient hurricane response and recovery system for TxDOT. Here's what's new for the 2009 storm season.
Recently, the agency added several new social media sites including Twitter (www.twitter.com/txdot), Facebook (www.txdot.gov/facebook) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/txdotpio). The agency developed a new Emergency Response Reentry Plan to better anticipate resources needed during and after the emergency. The plan specifies the types of crews and equipment needed including the person responsible for mobilizing crews from designated staging districts. TxDOT employees across the state have been briefed on mobilization procedures. Debris management contracts were reworked to provide better service. Ike taught us a lot about debris -- boats, houses and huge barges deposited in the middle of the road with four to five feet of marsh grass. And, what wasn't deposited by the storm was added later by citizens trying to clean up their property. TxDOT is still cleaning up from last year's storm. This year's debris management contracts now include provisions to assure quicker response. There is also a contract monitoring provision to make sure debris removal contractors are meeting all federal requirements. TxDOT is doing a better job preparing its own first-time responders. To help new responders get a better idea of the magnitude of a disaster, TxDOT's audio visual team visited six districts and conducted interviews with disaster veterans. The result is a 15-minute video that highlights the destruction -- and the heartbreak -- from previous storms to give first-time responders an idea of what they might be facing. No electricity, no food or showers. In past disaster situations, TxDOT emergency responders had difficulty finding relief from the long hours of working in a hot, sticky and sometimes dangerous environment. TxDOT found a way to provide food and facilities for emergency personnel. As one veteran noted, "It gets real old eating MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) after you've put in a 12-hour shift or more." The contract will provide some comfort -- including a hot shower -- for the men and women working around the clock to restore normalcy after the storm. TxDOT is working to develop a program to better determine when evaculanes should be opened or contraflow implemented. TxDOT and local officials need good data to help them make educated decisions on when to open evacuation routes. The agency is working on a research project with the University of Houston and the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) to develop a tool that will fine-tune the process and make it easier to implement each evacuation system at just the right time.
Texas Department of Transportation
What we have learned
Long before Hurricane Ike completed its trek across the state, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) was reevaluating its emergency response procedures. In the midst of all the damage and destruction, there was an upside. Each hurricane or weather event gives the agency a new perspective on how to prepare for the next emergency.
TxDOT put in place a more comprehensive contraflow plan. Prior to Rita, the agency had one plan -- I-37 out of Corpus Christi. Additional designated contraflow routes make it easier to get citizens out of the affected areas before the hurricane hits. TxDOT works closely with local and state authorities conducting annual drills to ensure that the plan can be implemented quickly and efficiently in the event of an emergency. In addition, the agency expanded the hurricane evacuation information on its Web site. Now included are contraflow videos and brochures and links to real-time traffic camera images and Dynamic Message Sign (DMS) messages along the evacuation routes. The agency developed a procedure to pre-stage equipment and supplies to get roads open faster and clear the way for the multi-agency recovery efforts led by the State of Texas. The agency also developed a plan to quickly provide necessities to stranded motorists. TxDOT expanded the capabilities of the Texas Road Conditions and Travel Information line and made provisions for travel counselors to staff the call center 24-hours a day during an emergency. During Ike, more than 116,000 calls came through the information line during a six-day period Coordinating with the fuel industry, TxDOT posted DMS messages to remind citizens to keep fuel tanks full at the beginning of hurricane season and especially when storms are approaching. This alleviated some of the fuel issues experienced during previous evacuations. Multiple messages were also used to inform citizens when storms were approaching, discourage travel to evacuated areas and strongly suggest that citizens not return until it was safe. An Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was set up to direct the agency's actions 24 hours a day before, during and after a hurricane. TxDOT works closely with the State Operations Center (SOC) in the Governor's office and the Department of Public Safety (DPS) conducting mock hurricane drills to ensure that we are able to respond quickly and efficiently in the event of an emergency. TxDOT identified traffic bottlenecks and choke points along evacuation routes. A joint effort between TxDOT, the DPS and local authorities facilitated the flow of traffic during evacuations. Additionally, TxDOT opened lines of communication with local and statewide rail providers to coordinate train schedules and reduce negative impacts from train traffic that could affect evacuation routes.
