First responders should monitor channels for distress calls and coordinate efforts with a crisis command post. All inflow of private vehicles should be restricted on a regional basis by state highway patrol on major interstates as well as law enforcement on local roadways. Although state DOTs are not directly responsible for patrolling state-owned infrastructure, “DOTs do have the responsibility for controlling access to critical components, establishing coordination with law enforcement to ensure quick response to incidents, conducting infrastructure risk and vulnerability assessments, and taking action to mitigate the effects of those risks and vulnerabilities.” (“Incorporating Transportation Security Awareness into Routine State DOT Operations
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Rally point locations should have been identified with signs and evacuation buses deployed with National Guard details, along with medical supplies and personnel. Key missed opportunities missed on the part of surface transportation infrastructure management include: lack of operationally sound crisis communication plan; U.S. National Transportation System (USNSTS) must be managed as a crisis response tool. Available assets must be documented, managed and exercised by crisis managers to best leverage those resources during an emergency; and National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP), CI/KR support annex to the National Response Framework. The geographic pattern of the storm damage led to a different composition of evacuees who returned to the area within a 100 mile radius. Katrina is associated with a substantial shift in racial composition “namely, a decrease in the percentage of residents who are black and an increasing percentage of Hispanics. Katrina is also associated with an increase in the percentage of older residents, a decrease in the percentage of residents with low income/education, and an increase in the percentage of residents with high income/education.” (Groen, Jeffrey, Polivka, Anne, 2010, Demography 47, no.4). The mandatory evacuation plan did not provide assistance for citizens of the ninth ward or special needs population, they did not have the resources and means to evacuate. Rally points, signs, and evacuation routes with buses and personnel would have assisted the residents of New Orleans with timely public
Rally point locations should have been identified with signs and evacuation buses deployed with National Guard details, along with medical supplies and personnel. Key missed opportunities missed on the part of surface transportation infrastructure management include: lack of operationally sound crisis communication plan; U.S. National Transportation System (USNSTS) must be managed as a crisis response tool. Available assets must be documented, managed and exercised by crisis managers to best leverage those resources during an emergency; and National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP), CI/KR support annex to the National Response Framework. The geographic pattern of the storm damage led to a different composition of evacuees who returned to the area within a 100 mile radius. Katrina is associated with a substantial shift in racial composition “namely, a decrease in the percentage of residents who are black and an increasing percentage of Hispanics. Katrina is also associated with an increase in the percentage of older residents, a decrease in the percentage of residents with low income/education, and an increase in the percentage of residents with high income/education.” (Groen, Jeffrey, Polivka, Anne, 2010, Demography 47, no.4). The mandatory evacuation plan did not provide assistance for citizens of the ninth ward or special needs population, they did not have the resources and means to evacuate. Rally points, signs, and evacuation routes with buses and personnel would have assisted the residents of New Orleans with timely public