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GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH PROVIDES A "REPORT CARD" FOR URBAN AREAS' EMERGENCY EVACUATION CAPABILITY

New Survey Ranks 37 Largest Urban Areas, Identifies Key Factors for Reviewing Readiness Plans

(WASHINGTON, DC) October 12, 2006 - Today, the American Highway Users Alliance announced a first-of-its-kind research study that provides a clear and understandable rating system for planners, homeland security experts, and the public to use when considering the evacuation challenges facing the nation's urban areas.

The Report, entitled "Emergency Evacuation Report Card 2006; 25 Urban Areas Could Face Greater Challenges than New Orleans Experienced after Hurricane Katrina," evaluates the 37 largest urban areas in the country - those with more than 1,000,000 in population - to identify the evacuation challenges facing planners and residents in each area. The evaluation index grades urban areas by reviewing internal traffic flow, highway capacity of major exit routes, and automobile accessibility. The research findings also include information on planning for the transit dependent. In general, areas that scored higher have lower population densities, more substantial evacuation routes, and do not have major geographical barriers obstructing evacuation exits.

Prior to September 11, 2001, there was little or no recognized need to plan for emergency evacuations in most urban areas. Since then, security, transportation, and planning professionals have struggled to quickly develop expertise in this field. The Department of Homeland Security has recently expressed concern over "significant weakness" in evacuation planning. This report is intended to identify key factors needed for reviewing evacuation readiness plans and making short and long-term improvements on the ground.

"When America first examined the need for an Interstate Highway System, mobilization for national defense was a key consideration. As time passed, defense mobilization received less attention," said American Highway Users Alliance President and CEO Greg Cohen. "In the past five years, for obvious reasons, evacuation planning has quickly emerged as a new essential element to include in urban transportation plans. However, as this report shows, there is significant improvement to be made."

In the new Report, only one urban area received an "A" for its evacuation capability - Kansas City. Columbus, Memphis, and Pittsburgh each received a "B". Seven areas were graded as a "C" and six received "D" grades. Twenty of the 37 urban areas examined received an "F" for their evacuation abilities. The lowest scoring areas were Detroit, Washington, DC, Phoenix, Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco-San Jose, Miami, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles - with Los Angeles facing the most difficult challenge of all 37 areas.

This report is not intended to praise some cities and condemn others. Rather, it is intended to provide a tool to assess current needs and challenges and make changes in the future to overcome as many problems as possible. In some cases, natural geography and population density may prevent an urban area from ever reaching a grade of "A". But the research provides a valuable guide by which security experts and planners can realistically evaluate existing capabilities and plan improvements for the future.

"Much can be done today and in the coming years to provide better mobility in the event of a sudden evacuation," said Cohen. "Additional highway capacity on exit routes can be provided with new 'intelligent' technology, relief at traffic bottlenecks, and the physical construction of new highway capacity; many solutions are available to improve internal traffic flow in urban areas, and better community coordination can improve automobile access for those who do not own their own vehicles."

The report reveals that urban areas rely heavily on private automobiles and publicly provided highways for evacuation, as evidenced by the evacuations in New Orleans and Houston in 2005. As a result, the capacity of roads and highways becomes the most critical element of evacuation planning. While data shows that the vast majority of Americans have access to automobiles, those without automobile access also rely on highways, because buses are the most important mechanism for evacuation for those without cars.

"I am pleased that this report identifies the need to plan for better emergency coordination between government agencies and bus operators as well as the need for exclusive bus routes so that operators can most efficiently exit and re-enter cities to pick up more people quickly," said American Bus Association President and CEO Peter Pantuso.

"For those without automobile access, over-the-road buses are extremely important in the event of any mass evacuation. Private coaches can move very large groups of people from a dangerous area to diverse destinations and can accommodate their belongings without any loss of seat space."

In addition to expanded roadway capacity and automobile access, the report calls for establishment of a national urban evacuation standards and reporting system and for the completion of urban area evacuation plans.

A copy of the full report can be found at: www.highways.org/pdfs/evacuation_report_card2006.pdf.

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The American Highway Users Alliance represents motorists, bus companies, truckers, RV enthusiasts, motorcyclists and a broad cross-section of businesses that depend on safe and efficient highways to transport their families, customers, employees, and products. Highway Users members pay taxes that finance transportation spending programs and advocate public policies that dedicate those taxes to improved highway safety and mobility.