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Yomi S. Wronge
| | Posted on Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 07:05 am: | |
Posted on Fri, Oct. 13, 2006
Bay Area escape routes get an 'F'
By Yomi S. Wronge
Mercury News
A traffic lobbying group on Thursday gave the Bay Area an ``F'' on evacuation preparedness, ranking the San Jose-San Francisco region as one of the worst places to be stuck during a catastrophe.
The study by the American Highway Users Alliance considered the fact that Bay Area freeways are often jammed under normal circumstances and bridges may not hold up during an earthquake.
``In California, you can't go into the ocean. You can't go into the mountains -- at least not in very large numbers,'' said Greg Cohen, president of the Washington-based group that represents motorists, truckers, insurance companies, oil refiners and other highway-related interests.
The study rated the 37 largest urban areas in the country on internal traffic flow, the capacities of major exit routes and accessibility by car.
The Bay Area fell into the bottom five, barely beating out Miami, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Areas with higher scores -- only Kansas City received an ``A'' -- have lower population densities, more substantial evacuation routes and no geographical barriers to getting out of town.
``California has been behind the times in letting highway systems deteriorate over time,'' Cohen said.
Response from local disaster planners was mixed. While most agreed that evacuation could be a problem, some pointed out that it isn't always prudent to flee a crisis.
``In the event of an earthquake I wouldn't want to be on a highway,'' said Henry Gardner, executive director of the Association of Bay Area Governments.
Gardner said tactical responses differ by disaster. In the event of a pandemic flu outbreak, people would be urged to stay at home.
And in other cases, he said, the ocean might be the best escape route: ``We'll have to look at enhanced water transport, moving people by ferry boat up or down the coast until we get to a safe place.''
San Jose City Councilman and ABAG President Dave Cortese said local governments are working on fine-tuning evacuation plans, taking into account the range of calamities that can occur, the human instinct to flee danger and the ability of infrastructure to hold up.
``Had we anticipated Loma Prieta and had people been told to evacuate, certain parts of the Bay Bridge itself would have been full of cars and the death toll would have been astronomical,'' Cortese said, referring to the Bay Area quake in 1989. ``Those are serious considerations. Do you push people out onto bridges or tell them to stay put?''
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Contact Yomi S. Wronge at ywronge@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5744.
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