Public Transit and Mandatory Evacuations Prior to Extreme Weather Events in New York City
New York City has been affected by extreme weather events in the last few years. In New York City access to public transit is critical to individuals making decisions about whether to evacuate and go to a shelter or somewhere further away, or to stay in place. The goal of the proposed research is to evaluate public transit services in areas considered to be at high risk for flooding in New York City and to provide a tool that can help transportation planners and city officials improve these services during evacuations. As part of the research the characteristics of public transit in Zone 1 evacuation areas in relation to the socioeconomic characteristics of the communities that live there. This includes examining proximity to public transit stops, including bus and subway services, multi-modal transportation connectivity, and distance to nearest shelters. A review of the literature on transportation factors that affect decisions to evacuate, statistical analyses and geographic information system (GIS) analyses would provide inputs for the development of a transit evacuation vulnerability index that could help planners and agencies identify vulnerable communities or vulnerable clusters within communities. The transit evacuation vulnerability index would include traditional variables included in social vulnerability and hazard indexes such as percent poor and percent elderly, and would also include measures of proximity to public transit, distance to shelters, vehicle ownership rates, multi-modal transit connectivity and others. The analyses resulting from this research work could provide Region II's transportation planners and agencies with valuable inputs to projects and policies aimed at expanding or improving public transit services in support of evacuation efforts or broader policies aimed at making communities more livable and resilient.
Language
- English
Project
- Status: Completed
- Funding: $84858.00
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Contract Numbers:
49198-34-27
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Sponsor Organizations:
University Transportation Research Center
City College of New York
Marshak Hall, Suite 910, 160 Convent Avenue
New York, NY United States 10031 -
Project Managers:
Thorson, Ellen
Eickemeyer, Penny
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Performing Organizations:
Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management
Wagner School, 295 Lafayette Street
New York, NY United States 10012-9604 -
Principal Investigators:
Zimmerman, Rae
- Start Date: 20150601
- Expected Completion Date: 20170831
- Actual Completion Date: 0
- Source Data: RiP Project 39469
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Evacuation; Floods; Policy; Public transit; Socioeconomic factors; Weather conditions
- Geographic Terms: New York (New York)
- Subject Areas: Policy; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; Society;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01560522
- Record Type: Research project
- Source Agency: University Transportation Research Center
- Contract Numbers: 49198-34-27
- Files: UTC, RIP
- Created Date: Apr 16 2015 1:00AM