Run away!
The city now has an Emergency Preparedness site that features a downloadable pamphlet on how to prepare for and get through emergencies (go out and buy a three-day supply of water right now), a map of neighborhood emergency shelters and for the Big One, a map showing emergency routes out of the city.
As somebody who would be expected to drive out of town on Washington Street, I guess all I can say is: Been nice knowing you. Washington Street gets clogged up just by people going to the Dedham Mall (and during a hurricane, I imagine it would be flooded out by the Mother Brook). Oh, but wait, there's an answer for that:
What steps are being taken to avoid the gridlock experienced in the evacuations in Texas?
One key aspect of evacuation route planning and execution is control. Evacuees will only be allowed to get on the designated evacuation routes at specific points. By controlling both the volume of traffic and ensuring that services, such as fuel and wreckers are available, we can maximize the throughput on the evacuation routes.
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Yeah, about that map outta town...
Washington St definitely clogs up something fierce during the day, but that's hardly the worst route listed on the map. That would be the fictional leg of American Legion Highway, which the map shows as occupying a route connecting Spring St/Bridge St at the W. Roxbury border, and Centre St near the Arboretum. American Legion actually runs through Roslindale and Mattapan. The misnamed road on the map should be the VFW Parkway.
Oh my
American Legion, VFW, yeah, I can see somebody getting those confused :-).
the routes
shouldnt the evacuation routes continue through other towns like cambriddge and brookline. Instead they just end at the border leaving people hopeless in knowing where to continue. I guess Menino just wants to put all the problems on to neighboring mayors.
I'm sure Dedham will welcome us evacuees with open arms
Once we hit the Dedham line, we can all hang out at the Pizzeria Uno!
Brookline Ave in Allston
Apparently those people who live along Brighton Avenue in Allston are going to have change their addresses, too. The map has it listed as Brookline Avenue. What's more, it has traffic following it to the Mass. Pike, but really, having it turn onto Cambridge Street and then Washington Street would make more sense since those streets pass through more of the real Brighton than Comm. Ave. The city must have the wonks at the boston.com (who don't know what's local, as this site has pointed out) doing their maps now. Wasn't it boston.com that put West Roxbury on one of its maps somewhere near Mission Hill, because that is actually west of Roxbury?
Mapmaker, mapmaker, make me a map ...
You're right about the Globe.
When would this plan be used?
I'm trying, and failing, to understand what kind of natural disaster would bring this plan into effect.
A hurricane or nor'easter could flood coastal and low-lying areas like the Back Bay and the South Boston shoreline, but it's not going to do much damage to the highlands of Roxbury and Roslindale. You don't need to evacuate the whole city here, like you would in New Orleans or Tampa or Houston or other cities without hills.
An earthquake can't be predicted in advance, and after it happens, the authorities and citizenry will need to figure out which highways and bridges were damaged and which ones are safe to use.
So what exactly are we planning for here?
If you look at the plan ...
True, those of us in the higher lands might not have to worry about storm surges, but what about wind damage - knocking out power, sewer and water service? We might need to get out.
But if you look at the plan (or rather the brochure based on the plan), it also includes info on neighborhood disasters.
The governor recently said
The governor recently said that all towns and cities in Massachusetts have to come up with evacuation plans. It's scare tactics for his potential presidental run.
It's stupid. In the event of needing to evacuate any large area with a lot of people, if you have everyone in their indivdual cars, there's going to be massive backups regardless of people knowing which roads to take. I think they should really be focusing on how to get large numbers of people out of an area with limited roadways. Considering that Massachusetts is home to several islands and places that are only accessible by bridge, they really ought to be coming up with something better than this.
If I had to evacuate ...
I guess I'd get on my bicycle and head for Lowell. I don't have a car, and the advantage of Lowell as a destination is that I've ridden to it many times before, and can get more than halfway there on bicycle paths, avoiding any traffic jams on highways. It's about a two-hour bike ride from Davis Square.
Now what Lowell would do with me once I got there, I don't know.
re: VFW Parkway
I sent a message to the Web Team through the cityofboston.com Contact page and let them know about the map error. I already received a reply saying it was forwarded to the correct people, and the map has been fixed. Gotta give them some credit for fixing the mistake so fast! I figured it would take days or weeks...