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Effects of Hurricanes Irene and Sandy in New Jersey: traffic patterns and highway disruptions during evacuations

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Abstract

This paper describes a quantitative analysis of traffic patterns and highway disruptions during Hurricane Irene and Sandy evacuations in New Jersey (NJ). This empirical study is based on multiple traffic and event data collected by various transportation agencies in NJ. In the first part of the paper, the temporal and spatial traffic patterns in NJ during Irene and Sandy evacuations were explored, and a comparative assessment of evacuation departure models was conducted based on the empirical traffic data. In the second part, we explored the frequency and geographic distribution of highway disruptions (vehicle accidents/incidents, incidents such as downed trees or road flooding caused by extreme winds and heavy rains, and highway bottlenecks) during Irene and Sandy evacuations and pre-landfall periods. The empirical patterns observed in this study can be used to improve real-world emergency response operations and evacuation models. The empirical findings may also benefit hurricane evacuation planning in areas with similar circumstances as NJ.

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Notes

  1. TRANSCOM is a coalition of 16 transportation and public safety agencies in the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut metropolitan region.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the two anonymous referees for their valuable comments which certainly improved the quality of this paper. This work was partially supported by a grant from University Transportation Research Center (UTRC). The authors also thank New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) and TRANSCOM for providing the traffic and event data used in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Traffic Engineering & Key Laboratory of Road and Traffic Engineering, Ministry of Education, Tongji University, 4800 Cao’an Road, Shanghai, 201804, China

    Jian Li

  2. Department of Civil and Urban Engineering, Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP), New York University, Brooklyn, NY, 11201, USA

    Kaan Ozbay

  3. Civil Engineering Department, Istanbul Kernerburgaz University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Bekir Bartin

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  1. Jian Li
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  2. Kaan Ozbay
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  3. Bekir Bartin
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Correspondence to Jian Li.

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Li, J., Ozbay, K. & Bartin, B. Effects of Hurricanes Irene and Sandy in New Jersey: traffic patterns and highway disruptions during evacuations. Nat Hazards 78, 2081–2107 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-1820-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-1820-9

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