Publication Details
Title: Rural Preparedness for Agricultural Emergency Traffic Control
Author/Presenter: Hutton, Jessica M; Graham, Jerry L
Abstract: This paper is based on research conducted for NCHRP Project 20-59(22), A Guide to Emergency Quarantine and Isolation Controls of Roads in Rural Areas, and explores the extent to which rural areas are prepared to handle the traffic control required for a large-scale quarantine related to an agricultural emergency. Building on a literature review and interviews with law enforcement, agriculture, transportation, and emergency response officials in several rural counties around the country, the current level of state and local preparedness for an agricultural emergency such as a foreign animal disease is discussed. The paper then identifies the gaps in preparedness at both the state and local levels, related primarily to traffic control. Recommendations for bridging those gaps are provided, keeping in mind the limited resources of rural counties and the division of responsibility between federal, state, and local officials. Finally, a set of tools for planning and implementing traffic control in an agricultural emergency is presented. Tools include a table of roles and responsibility of stakeholders in each of the three phases of response, a description of three levels of traffic control, a route prioritization scheme, and traffic control diagrams. These tools are taken from A Guide to Traffic Control of Rural Roads in an Agricultural Emergency, which was produced as part of NCHRP Project 20-59(22).
Source: Transportation Research Record, no. 2137
Publication Date: 2009
Source URL: http://pubsindex.trb.org/
Notes: Abstract posted with permission of TRB. The full document can be obtained from the TRB web site above.
