Hurricane Florence Evacuation Routes and Traffic Networks
On September 13, 2018 Hurricane Florence made landfall in the Carolinas. There was a preemptive mandatory evacuation called by both governors of both states. This evacuation was for more than 1,000,000 Carolinians on the coast from Wilmington, NC to Charleston, SC to move inland out of the “danger zones” on specially blocked off highways that merged in their respective capitals, Raleigh, NC and Columbia, SC. Drivers also had the option to continue driving even further inland, under normal traffic conditions.
As a fellow Carolinian myself, I’ve been inundated with news of evacuation routes and safety protocols. In this time of mass migration, there are plentiful details, even aerial footage, of which routes are blocked or slower, and which routes have been opened and are more-free for travel. With Hurricane Florence nearing closer, time is of the essence for these drivers and many different routes are taken to increase travel speed.
This scenario replicates those studied in lecture and even a Nash Equilibrium could be found with enough evidence and assumptions. Take the following evacuation routes from Charleston, SC (link below post). Point A is Charleston, Point B is Columbia. Drivers have the choice of taking US 17 over to Mount Pleasant, and then to I-526 to North Charleston and then to Columbia. They also have the choice to take US 78 then to I-526 to Columbia. Although there are various alternate paths, this is an example scenario of a traffic network where drivers would have to find the best, more efficient route.
In addition, similar to adding a “bridge” between cities, police and evacuation officials practiced “Contraflow Lane Reversals” in several different major highways, which adds to our network of available baths. I-26 for example, had all its east-bound lanes blocked, and police led uncertain drivers down the opposite side of the highway to increase traffic flow driectly from Point A to Point B, or from Charleston to Columbia.
The most direct routes from Point A and Point B were open to Contra Flow in the Carolinas; perhaps, it was expected that the shorter distance would be very strong motivator to many drivers. But it is important to remember that according to many of our examples in class, it may be quicker to take alternate paths. On the SC Department of Public Safety’s website (link below), you can find real time updates for traffic patterns and accidents, and gain insight for which route to take next. Unfortunately, even with real-time traffic patterns it is hard to find a rough estimate of the best equilibrium situation, and more so, convince drivers to take alternate routes; this ultimately lead many citizens to be stuck on clogged paths on their way to safety.
http://www.scdps.gov/docs/Target%20Zero_Final_w_Signatures_15APR15.pdf
http://scdot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=a44cc3a06ef24dc68be7ddaef6bb2db6
https://www.scdot.org/travel/pdf/Evac_Maps/evacMap_Charleston.pdf