National Cooperative Highway
Research Program
NCHRP 20-59 (42):
A Guide to Regional Transportation Planning for Disasters,
Emergencies and Significant Events
Summary Findings and Guide Overview
Final Presentation- December 30, 2013
Presentation Overview
» Project Overview
» Guide Organization- Overview
» Introduction/ Key Findings
» Principles
» Case Studies
» Tools
» Additional Resources
Picture credits: FEMA Staff photos
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Project Overview
Phase I Tasks
Phase 2 Tasks
1. Literature Review
5.
Draft Guide
2. Survey & Sampling Plan,
Interviews
6.
Stakeholder Review
7.
Final Report, Final Guide,
3. Synthesis of Current
Practices and Planning
Principles
4. Interim Report and Draft
Outline of Guide
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and PowerPoint
NCHRP 20-59(42) – Project Team
Study Team
Oversight
» Deborah Matherly and
Louis Berger staff
» Panel Chair: Richard Bennett
» Jane Mobley Associates
» Brian Wolshon (LSU)
» John Renne
» Roberta Thomas (Atkins)
» Pamela Murray-Tuite
» Vinayak Dixit
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» NCHRP Senior Program
Officer: Stephan Parker
Project Objective
Develop a guide with principles and resources to facilitate regional
transportation planning, coordination, and operations for disasters,
emergencies and significant events across:
» Agencies: law enforcement, emergency mgt., health, transit, etc.
» Modes: highway (truck, auto), transit (bus, paratransit, rail)
water, air, pedestrian, etc.
» Jurisdictions: towns, cities, counties, states, tribal and
international borders
» Levels of government: local, regional, state(s), possibly tribal,
federal and international
» Private and non-profit entities: critical infrastructure (e.g.,
utilities, communications); suppliers; emergency focus (e.g.,
American Red Cross); client focus (e.g., service providers)
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Guide Organization
» Background/Introduction
» Principles
» Case Studies
» Tools
» Additional Information
» Appendices
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Structure, Components for Each Principle
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Characteristics
Strategies
Tools (cross-reference)
Tips
Examples
Case studies (excerpts &
cross- reference)
Basic Findings from Research
Successful multijurisdictional transportation
planning for disasters, emergencies and significant
events is taking place
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around the country and across international borders
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in many different contexts and institutional settings
– non-profit organizations
As part of
– metropolitan planning organizations -- long range transportation plans
– transportation agencies
-- hazard mitigation plans
– land use organizations
-- emergency plans
– emergency planning agencies
-- short range operations plans
Resilience: The Primary Objective
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“Resilience is the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, and more
successfully adapt to adverse events.”
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– The National Academies, ‘Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative’ 2012.
»
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report puts forth a vision of the
characteristics of a resilient nation in the year 2030:
“The characteristics describe a more resilient nation in which
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Every individual and community in the nation has access to the risk and vulnerability
information they need to make their communities more resilient.
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All levels of government, communities, and the private sector have designed resilience
strategies and operation plans based on this information.
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Proactive investments and policy decisions have reduced loss of lives, costs, and
socioeconomic impacts of future disasters.
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Community coalitions are widely organized, recognized, and supported to provide essential
services before and after disasters occur.
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Recovery after disasters is rapid and the per capita federal cost of responding to disasters
has been declining for a decade.
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Nationwide, the public is universally safer, healthier, and better educated.” (NAS 2012
Summary, page 2.)
Basic Premises
Transportation is a key asset in any major event.
Conversely, can also present a hazard.
This Guide focuses on the regional to national
scale (not local)
All potential circumstances require communication
& collaboration, plus application of basic principles
identified in the Guide.
Basic Premises
Transportation is a key asset in any major event.
Conversely, can also present a hazard.
This Guide focuses on the regional to national
scale (not local).
As incidents grow in scale and complexity the
need and challenges for effective communication
and coordination increase.
Connections Between Planning Guidance
for Transportation Planning & Operations
and Emergency Mgt. Operations &
Recovery/ Mitigation Planning
Planning
Transportation Transportation systems
planning
Operations
Transport operations/
operations planning
Long Range Transportation Day to day management of
Plans link with community facilities, equipment and
& land use plans; climate
systems
adaptation planning ties to
EM mitigation planning
Emergency
Management
Recovery & Mitigation
Planning
Emergency Operations
Planning
Coordinated support to
community recovery- state
multi-hazard mitigation
plans update triennially
Tactical planning- allhazards, with training,
exercises
Precepts
• Communication and
collaboration bind all the
other principles together.
• Without these, no other
part of a
multijurisdictional
planning process can be
functional.
Principle 1: Comprehensive
Look at full range of potential
events, possible stresses,
interdependencies.
Multijurisdictional relevance?
Planning develops, examines, tests
a range of solutions to address
resulting impacts – impacts on
critical services, constituents,
response capabilities, and short and
long range recovery.
Strategies: Comprehensive Planning
• Assess the multijurisdictional transportation situation
(demographics, movements, asset inventories, stakeholders,
land uses, potential stressors in an emergency)
• Consider interdependencies, priorities and contingency plans
for when multiple systems fail simultaneously
• Evaluate hazards and risks pertinent to the region, even those
that may be relatively rare but still a risk
Examples: Comprehensive Planning
• Washington State DOT has incorporated security and
emergency mitigation into recent mega-projects (e.g., seismic
retrofits for bridges and tunnels that also improve stand-off
distances for explosives; intrusion detection devices for
hatches, other entrances).
• Adams County, CO, is incorporating hazard identification, land
use and transportation plan into a single document and
integrated plan.
• The Association of Bay Area Governments led and
coordinated the development of the Multijurisdictional Local
Hazard Mitigation Plan for the San Francisco Bay Area; all
hazards approach includes health risks- e.g., pandemic
Principle 2: Cooperative
Process seeks values and uses input,
suggestions, concerns, insights, and
critiques from all stakeholders,
public, private, and non-profit.
Multijurisdictional relevance?
Is not “top-down” or single
government-agency driven.
Subset of “collaborative.”
Strategies: Cooperative Planning
• Identify common issues or needs/ mutual problems &
opportunities in planning for disasters, emergencies &
significant events
• Build a case for a joint solution to a common problem: e.g.,
lower costs, or leverage support for an investment
• Identify existing transportation networks, expand their focus
• Identify complementary roles, responsibilities & functions
between regional transportation & emergency management
• Integrate private, business and community resources into
plans & operations
• Form workgroups to address specific areas of response &
recovery
Examples: Cooperative Planning
• LA Business Emergency Operations Center involves
businesses, industry trade associations, universities, &
volunteer organizations; virtually connected to the EOC
• Houston Galveston Area Council (MPO) working committee
includes transportation, emergency management, city, county
reps, housing authorities, schools; meets to brainstorm
disaster response & recovery; assisted with contraflow
coordination in Hurricane Ike
• Pacific Northwest Economic Region and Center for Regional
Disaster Resilience (non-profit) promotes public & private
sector cooperation across 5 western states & 5 Canadian
provinces or territories.
• All-Hazards Consortium – similar non-profit mid-Atlantic and
Northeast (9 states).
Principle 3: Informative
Data acquisition, analysis, decisionmaking, guidance development, and
transfer of information….
In a timely, accurate, clear, simple,
and useful way…..
To residents, travelers, first
responders, and other stakeholders.
Multijurisdictional relevance?
Guides action-oriented plans for
specific communication messages,
methods of presentation, and
means of delivery.
Subset of Communication.
Informative Planning Strategies
Address:
• Regional transportation communications
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Identify information resources used by partners, stakeholders
Determine interoperability of information resources
Determine robustness and redundancies of information exchange
Develop contingencies for a massive communications outage
• Situational awareness
– Know how people and goods are moving in and through the region
– Understand interdependencies between transportation, utilities,
communications & other systems, & priorities for restoration of service
– Identify mechanisms for regular data collection & exchanges with stakeholders
about essential services
• External communications to the public, including people with
access and functional needs
– Establish and practice multijurisdictional coordination in messages &
information sharing; e.g., are there some messages that should be consistent?
Informative Planning Examples
• Kentucky Outreach & Information Network (KOIN) is a network
of local agencies, community organizations, and other groups
who have volunteered to be conduits of information about the
impact on public health from disasters & emergencies.
Established networks like these can help transportation &
emergency management reach people with functional needs.
• San Francisco Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission
– operates 511 call service, serves as public info
clearinghouse during a disaster.
• All-Hazards Consortium helped work around tolling station
bottlenecks for utility truck and response convoys after
Hurricane Sandy.
• Regional Integrated Transportation Information System
(RITIS)- DC area- 24/7 largely automated communications
about transportation; similar systems elsewhere
Principle 4: Coordinated
Identifies problems and solutions.
Multijurisdictional relevance?
Fosters complete and cohesive
interaction between agencies,
across hierarchical and
jurisdictional boundaries- vertical
and horizontal integration.
Coordinated Planning Strategies
• Share emergency plans and consider how they can be
integrated, including assumptions on transportation assets &
resources & how they will be used (e.g., are multiple agencies
or institutions all “laying claim” to the same limited resource?)
• Identify critical transportation services that will need to be
restored & maintained
• Consider ways to establish more formalized agreements (e.g.,
MOUs)
• After an event, coordinated planning & operations are
necessary to restore order, help communities recover, and
evaluate the operations thru after action reports and plan
revisions
• Obtaining mutual aid for planned events is a good precursor
for more formal mutual aid agreements for emergencies
Coordinated Planning Examples
• The San Francisco Area Metropolitan Transportation
Commission has complementary emergency transportation
plans, one coordinating transportation assets to enable
emergency response, and one focused on restoration of basic
transportation services to the general public.
• The Association of Bay Area Governments coordinated multijurisdictional local hazard mitigation plans (LHMP) including
transportation
• Washington, DC has ongoing coordination with the Military
District of Washington, and across state and city lines for law
enforcement, health transportation, fire and rescue, and
transportation in general
• Memphis TN MPO provided the coordination “glue” to hold
areas together in major flooding events
Principle 5: Inclusive
Creates an equitable transportation system
that addresses the needs of all people.
Multijurisdictional relevance?
All people affected by the plan can be
involved or represented.
Includes people with and without
automobiles, people likely to be
marginalized, people with access and
functional needs.
Inclusive Planning Strategies
• Apply the process identified in TCRP Report 150:
Communication with Vulnerable Populations- A Transportation
& Emergency Management Toolkit – summary strategies
below
• Understand the demographics of the region
• Build a network between leaders & staff in transportation &
emergency management to leaders within non-governmental
organizations, community groups and other agencies that
work with and understand the needs of people with access
and functional needs
• Plan for the needs of people without automobiles
• Understand community partners’ emergency plans and how
they can be integrated into regional plans
Inclusive Planning Examples
• New Orleans City Assisted Evacuation Plan supported public
transportation services & collaboration for Hurricane Gustav
• San Diego wildfires have provided valuable lessons on helping
and evacuating vulnerable populations if necessary
• Louisiana Nursing Home Association verifies vehicle
availability by type
• Fort Collins CO mitigation planning that moved a nursing
home saved many lives
• Anchorage Alaska - Access Alaska and the EMA incorporated
needs of access & functional needs populations in initiatives
• Craig, Alaska – provides full tribal integration in emergency
planning including cultural focus on elders
Principle 6: Exercised
• Small and mid-size events “tested” in
daily incidents.
• Large planned events test broader
coordination and communication
strategies.
• Tabletop to full-scale exercises hone
relationships and test weak spots prior
to an actual disaster.
Multijurisdictional relevance?
Greater complexity= greater need for
practice, relationships.
Exercise Strategies
• Develop and execute an exercise program, including
planned exercises on specific dates and improvement
tracking
• Develop exercise documentation specific to the type of
exercise being conducted
• Develop the evaluation to assess performance
• Develop a structured testing schedule
• The Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation
Program (HSEEP) offers a capabilities and
performance-based exercise program
Exercise Examples
• DC and Washington Metro assess evacuation strategies
and regional communications during July 4 Celebration
events.
• Tampa prepared for Super Bowl XLIII with a full-scale
exercise concurrent with a college bowl game.
• Full scale drills in Alabama are used annually to test
contraflow operations on Interstate 65
• Scenarios for PNWER Blue Cascades Exercises are
primarily generated by the private sector partners.
Principle 7: Flexible
Plan for unlikely circumstances that could
cause significant harm.
Multijurisdictional relevance?
Need to plan for ripple effects and
interdependencies• earthquake/ tsunami/ disabled nuclear
power stations;
• tunnel flooding disrupts power,
transportation and communications
due to co-located utilities.
Flexible Planning Strategies
• Plan for a wide range of possible conditions and scenarios
• Engage a diverse team to develop event, impact and response
scenarios and to identify possible flexible uses of the
transportation system
• Work with planning partners to identify:
– Critical information collection and dissemination in extreme conditions
– Chain of authority if/ when particular decision-makers are not available
– How to prioritize resources including traffic management and accessible
transportation options
– Mobility options and needs for all travelers including disadvantaged populations
• Create a process for ongoing evaluation of transportation
systems to detect problems and inefficiencies
• Identify interdependencies and weak points
• Follow NIMS principles
Flexible Planning Examples
• NH Ice Storm left 63% of population without power for up to
two weeks- are building more flexible responses
• Hurricane Rita- unanticipated surge of people required rethinking of warnings, supplies
• Co-locating personnel – e.g., EMA, COG, DOT Traffic
Management Center, police, public school, and military
liaisons, Fusion Center, 911 and 311 call centers (with portable
command centers as well)
• PNWER established a Border Solutions Coordination Council
in advance of the 2010 Winter Olympics with strategies that
have been maintained ever since, e.g., advanced passenger
manifest clearance for common carriers, and a freight priority
mobility plan.
Principle 8: Continuous / Iterative
Ongoing. Undergo regular
assessments.
Conduct improvement planning after any
event.
Multijurisdictional relevance?
Sustain and maintain critical
relationships through regular interaction
and informal and formal agreements /
overcomes staff/ leadership changes.
Continuous Planning Strategies
• Set goals, objectives and milestones
• Conduct regular meetings of core team members around
substantive topic to maintain momentum and foster the
multijurisdictional perspective
• Invite key stakeholders to participate in after action reports for
exercises, planned events, and actual disasters and
emergencies
• Use after action reports and lessons learned to improve
procedures, communications, inclusion and any other
shortfalls
• Evaluate organizational structure – resources suggested to
help that effort
• Document all planning activities
• Be sure there is always a successor in line to lead the effort
Continuous Planning Examples
• Kansas City Scout- bi-state traffic management systemillustrate key factors for improvement, continuity
• PNWER and AHC exercises and demonstrated relevance
generate their continuity.
• ABAG, primarily responsible for land use, has been a leader
for decades helping local jurisdictions and partner agencies
complete individual emergency plans and identify
interdependencies
Case Studies
1. Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER) and the Center
for Regional Disaster Resilience - Nonprofit agency established
and active since 1991; includes public and private sector partners
in 5 western U.S. states, including Alaska plus 5 Canadian
provinces or territories. Active exercise program, active in Olympic
and other cross-border planning.
2. Anchorage, Alaska- The largest center for independent living,
“Access Alaska,” is working with other agencies to coordinate a
Functional Needs Support Services Working Group, coordinating
with the Emergency Management Agency.
3. All Hazards Consortium- Nonprofit agency to facilitate multi-state
collaboration efforts, focusing on private sector as well as public
sector participants. Modeled on PNWER, demonstrated successes
foster continued collaboration.
Case Studies (cont.)
4. Southwest Missouri Council of Governments- prepares Regional
Transportation Plan and assists member counties in developing and
updating hazard mitigation plans, including multi-jurisdiction HMPs.
5. Association of Bay Area Governments- Led and coordinated the
Multijurisdictional Local Hazard Mitigation Plan for the San Francisco
Bay Area, explicitly including transportation and interdependencies.
6. City of Craig, Alaska- Example of cooperation and collaboration
between tribal, emergency management, transportation, transit, and
private nonprofit and for-profit agencies.
7. Marathon Bombing Medical Care & Transportation Coordination
8. Hurricane Sandy/ NYMTC
9. Regional Integrated Transportation Information System (RITIS)DC Metro area automated information sharing system
Tools
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Checklist of Potential Stakeholders
Checklist of Potential Transportation Assets (High Level)
Transportation Resources (Detailed Checklist)
Sample Transportation Security and Hazard Mitigation Strategies
for Various Modes and Types of Project
Checklist for Emergency Events Affecting Multiple Jurisdictions,
Transportation and Interdependencies
Key Steps to Effective Collaboration
Questions for Collaborative Partners and Other Stakeholders to
Ask Each Other
Strategies to Exercise a Regional Transportation Plan for
Disasters, Emergencies and Significant Events
Additional Information
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Glossary
Abbreviations
Useful Resources (Annotated)
References
Appendices
• Summary Comparison between Disaster & Emergency
Planning and Significant Event Planning
• Emergency Management and Transportation Planning –
Additional Context and Comparisons
To Provide Comments/
For Further Information
Deborah Matherly
202.303.2653
dmatherly@louisberger.com