Pedestrian Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management of Mass Evacuations on Foot: State-of-the-Art and Best Practices

Abstract

ABSTRACT The following article summarizes the latest state-of-the-art information and best practices for pedestrian-related disaster preparedness and emergency evacuation planning. Although “walk-out plans” have been developed for selected cities, no facility and/or infrastructure planning, engineering, or implementation has yet occurred that was directly related to expediting or improving mass pedestrian evacuation safety and access. Since the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) has pioneered the study of pedestrian infrastructure, and its impact on mass pedestrian evacuation, we recommend more support for this activity, and ongoing outreach efforts.1 This article concludes with a brief critique based on a prior discussion of the impact of pedestrian evacuation on vehicle movement that was published in the first federal guidance exclusively on managing pedestrian evacuations.2