Short term planning activities have focused on traffic operations, communications and logistics. Operational improvements were focused on accident detection and management, changes in transit vehicle routing and scheduling, the elimination of bottlenecks at specific intersections and contra-flow lane operations. Opportunities to improve communications with the public and within the emergency response community, such as "hot lines" for emergency personnel, a protocol for public communications and public education for evacuation events, have also been explored.
In 2006, H-GAC coordinated a multi-county evacuation task force to identify transportation issues within the metropolitan region. Working cooperatively with state and national evacuation planning, the scope of work produced short-term recommendations, which could improve evacuation capabilities. Longer term priorities recommended are expected to require significant public investment over many years.
During the volatile 2008 hurricane season, plans and resources were put to the test. Just prior to the formation of Hurricane Dolly in July 2008, H-GAC finalized edits to the Texas Department of Public Safety Hurricane Evacuation Traffic Management Plan. It was only two months later when Hurricane Ike hit the Houston-Galveston area in the early morning hours of September 13th. Category 2 winds and a Category 4 storm surge caused more than 70 reported deaths with property damages in excess of $30 billion. Prior to the hurricane's approach, much improved communication between elected officials and the media resulted in a substantial number of citizens residing outside the surge zones to stay at home rather than evacuate. A better understanding of the number of special needs citizens needing to be evacuated also helped local and State officials prepare resources to aid in the evacuation.
While the evacuation went well, it became painfully obvious that the local, State, and Federal governments were not prepared for the recovery process. Future planning efforts will need to focus on urgent daily needs that follow a strike on the region, as well as massive power outages, secondary evacuations for those depending on electricity, point of distribution locations, pre-disaster contracts for debris removal, utility and signal repair, inter-local assistance contracts within the region, and long-term recovery. This is expected to take several years in the hardest hit communities, but in 2009, the region hopes to take a huge step forward in the hurricane preparation and recovery processes.