ITS During Disasters

Jerry WoodsJerry WoodsFlorida DOT – District 5Florida DOT – District 5

ITS in Emergency Operations in Florida

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OutlineOutline

• Background and Overview• Current FDOT Procedures / Policies• 2004 Hurricane Season• iFlorida Emergency Operational

Enhancements• Natural disasters• Man-made disasters

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FDOT District 5 RTMCFDOT District 5 RTMC

• Located in Orlando• Co-located with Florida Highway Patrol (FHP)• Operates 24 Hours, 7 Days a Week • Operates all FDOT ITS in Central Florida

• Permanent DMS, Detector Stations and Cameras

• Hub for notifying FDOT Operations Facilities and Contractors for Incident Response

• Record and Broadcast 511 Messages• Coordinates I-4 Road Ranger Program• Conducts Statewide Amber Alerts• Overall Regional Informational Hub

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FDOT District 5 RTMC AND ITSFDOT District 5 RTMC AND ITS

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OutlineOutline

• Background and Overview• Current FDOT Procedures / Policies• 2004 Hurricane Season• iFlorida Emergency Operational

Enhancements• Natural disasters• Man-made disasters

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• Florida Highway Patrol (FHP)• FDOT District 5• County Emergency Management

and Operations Centers• Local Law Enforcement/Fire

Rescue• State Emergency Operations

Center in Tallahassee

FDOT District 5FDOT District 5 Emergency & Evacuation AgenciesEmergency & Evacuation Agencies

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FDOT District 5FDOT District 5Evacuation Decision MakingEvacuation Decision Making

• Determine need for an evacuation• Local evacuations determined by County

Emergency Management• Use the National Hurricane Center to make

decisions

• Contra-flow decision• FHP, FDOT and Florida Department of Law

Enforcement (FDLE) make recommendations• Governor orders contra-flow

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OutlineOutline

• Background and Overview• Current FDOT Procedures / Policies• 2004 Hurricane Season• iFlorida Emergency Operational

Enhancements• Natural disasters• Man-made disasters

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2004 Hurricane Season2004 Hurricane Season

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Communication With The PublicCommunication With The PublicPrior to Hurricane LandfallPrior to Hurricane Landfall

• FDOT Infrastructure• Use of 511 System• Use of DMS Signage to provide:

• Shelter information (800 number to call)• Road closures• Congestion information

• Media• Pubic Information Officers – providing accurate

and timely information to TV and Radio Media

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• Charlie (August 13) – no impact on 511, Tampa Bay system not yet operational

• Frances (September 4-6) – 5x spike in CFL, 2x spike in SEFL (web usage spike)

• Ivan (September 16) – no impact on 511 (hit panhandle)• Jeanne (September 25-26) – 2x spike in CFL and SEFL, Peak day in

Tampa• Overall - 400,000 total calls in Florida in September 2004

Communication With The PublicCommunication With The Public511 Statistics511 Statistics

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2004 Hurricane Season2004 Hurricane SeasonWhat happened?What happened?

• Many people listened to local broadcasts by County Emergency Management to evacuate well ahead of the storms

• Roads were congested, but moving• No contra flow implemented; Majority of traffic moved

north out of Florida• FDOT used TTMS data to validate traffic flow on

interstate roads not covered by RTMC• FDOT D5 shared video with D2 (Jacksonville) for

traffic management/planning• Roads were empty one day before hurricane landfall• People coming back into state heard rumors that

borders were closed

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Post Hurricane IssuesPost Hurricane IssuesCellular CommunicationsCellular Communications

• Cell systems worked on/off after hurricanes - towers not destroyed, but power was lost• Cell companies buying emergency generators to

operate towers during future outages• Even so, too many people trying to use the

system can saturate it

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Post Hurricane IssuesPost Hurricane IssuesITS Field DevicesITS Field Devices

• RTMC remained operational with generator power, however power was lost to ITS field devices

• FDOT scrambled to find generators for master hubs to power ITS devices

• By third storm all Master Hub sites equipped with generators

• Generators also procured to power traffic signals

• Problems with theft of generators

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• Continued need for early and accurate communication to the public

• Power outages were the biggest problem; could not find a generator as far north as Alabama or Georgia

• If traffic is moving, there is no need to contra flow• Prepare for fuel needs• Provide evacuation and re-entry information to

neighboring states – post to DMS and 511 systems

2004 Hurricane Season2004 Hurricane SeasonLessons LearnedLessons Learned

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OutlineOutline

• Background and Overview• Current FDOT Procedures / Policies• 2004 Hurricane Season• iFlorida Emergency Operational

Enhancements• Natural disasters• Man-made disasters

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iFlorida Model DeploymentiFlorida Model Deployment

• Purpose• To demonstrate the wide variety of operational functions

that are enabled or enhanced with a surface transportation security and reliability information system

• Four year, $20M+ program – 11 projects• Official start date – May 1, 2003• Two years to design/deployment• Two years operational evaluation• Statewide project, with a focus on Central Florida• Leverages $80M+ in ongoing 2002-2004 investments

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iFlorida Emergency Ops EnhancementsiFlorida Emergency Ops Enhancements

• Field Components• CCTVs• Travel time based data collection system• Speed/volume detectors

• Central Florida RWIS• Road Weather Forecasting System - Meteorlogix• Statewide Corridor Monitoring System upgrade on

major evacuation routes• CCTVs• Speed/volume detectors

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• Conditions Reporting System• Supports both Statewide and Regional ATIS Systems• Provides Information to 511, Statewide and Regional Web

Sites• Supports RTMC Operations

• Includes decision support applications to alert and advise RTMC operators with recommended:

• Changes to the Variable Speed Limit• Dynamic Message Signs• 511 Messages

• Fiber Connection includes video capability - FHP Cocoa, Brevard EOC and Orlando RTMC• All agencies will be able to view CCTV feeds

iFlorida Emergency Ops EnhancementsiFlorida Emergency Ops Enhancements

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• The CRS includes automated data from:• FHP’s Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system• FDOT’s construction information system• FDOT District 5’s Surveillance Systems• Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority’s (OOCEA)

Travel Time Data Server• Available transit and airport information• Meteorlogix’s segment weather conditions, alerts, and

forecasts

• The CRS fuses all available data into pre-defined roadway links

• Weather-related alerts will be available to the RTMC operator via the Operator Interface

iFlorida Emergency Ops EnhancementsiFlorida Emergency Ops EnhancementsConditions Reporting SystemConditions Reporting System

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• Expands Central Florida 511 service• More roads – all limited access and 8 key arterials (15 roads, 28

reporting segments)• Software uses travel time data to automatically select pre-recorded

messages• Operator recorded incident / exception messages• Roadway summary• Drive time summary option – like a radio report• My 511 custom trip reports

• Other modes• LYNX (Orlando Bus Transit System)• Orlando International Airport• Orlando-Sanford International Airport• Port Canaveral

iFlorida Emergency Ops EnhancementsiFlorida Emergency Ops Enhancements511 Service511 Service

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• Introduction of statewide service • Covers all roads in the Florida Intrastate Highway System

• Controlled access routes• Turnpikes and expressway limited access routes• Interstate limited access routes• 59 roads, 74 roadway reporting segments

• Focus on exception reporting• Construction• Major incidents• Weather alerts

• Allows call transfers to Southeast Florida and Tampa Bay services

iFlorida Emergency Ops EnhancementsiFlorida Emergency Ops Enhancements511 Service511 Service

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• Brevard to Orlando evacuation

• Establish situational awareness on SR 528 and SR 520 – parallel evacuation routes

• Provides SR 528 contra flow support and monitoring

• Assist in determining contra flow need

• Provide traveler information tailored to evacuees leaving from and returning to Brevard County

iFlorida Emergency Ops EnhancementsiFlorida Emergency Ops EnhancementsSR 528 Corridor Monitoring SystemSR 528 Corridor Monitoring System

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• Deploys 30 sensor stations along FIHS roadways (I-10, I-75, I-95 and Florida’s Turnpike)• Sensor sites collect data/video in real-time

• Uses FDOT’s existing microwave tower network to bring data to the CRS at the RTMC

• 54 Telemetered Traffic Monitoring Sites (TTMS) sites around the state supplement this data for emergency operations purposes • Not all sites can provide data in real time• Some only hourly or daily

iFlorida Emergency Ops EnhancementsiFlorida Emergency Ops EnhancementsStatewide Corridor Monitoring SystemStatewide Corridor Monitoring System

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• Provide real time, critical weather and roadway travel conditions

• Focused on Central Florida• 10 RWIS sites on I-95, I-4, SR 528 and the Florida’s Turnpike• 4 wind monitors on Coastal bridges

• Integration of iFlorida and National Weather Service (NWS) data

• Expanded RWIS sensor coverage in order to achieve a larger coverage area and a finer, more precise level of weather information

• Data from RWIS and NWS will be used to support development of weather prediction model for current conditions and forecasts for each road segment defined in the Conditions Reporting System

iFlorida Emergency Ops EnhancementsiFlorida Emergency Ops EnhancementsWeather Related ProjectsWeather Related Projects

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• Daytona International Speedway Evacuation Planning• Goal

• Develop emergency evacuation plan with Daytona International Speedway

• Review the plan with other regional these event venues to identify recommended practices for emergency evacuations for types of venues

• Lessons Learned to date: • No fire hydrants on Daytona Beach Raceway property• Raceway fire staff assume that Daytona Beach F.D. had

tanker truck to support emergencies

iFlorida Emergency Ops EnhancementsiFlorida Emergency Ops EnhancementsMan-Made DisastersMan-Made Disasters

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• Planning effort has helped improve coordination and resulted in development of plan to cover emergencies/evacuations• Need to provide route information to attendees – e.g.,

provide route information on back of ticket• Use of speedway equivalent of DMS used for advertising can be

converted to provide evacuation/other information

• Plans for installation of cameras at other key intersections around the raceway based on lessons learned

• Plans developed to use floodgate 511 if evacuation becomes necessary

iFlorida Emergency Ops EnhancementsiFlorida Emergency Ops EnhancementsMan-Made DisastersMan-Made Disasters

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Contact InformationContact Information

Jerry Woods, FDOT District 5

E-mail: Jerry.Woods@dot.state.fl.us

Phone: 386-943-5311