5 ms·

I was stuck in traffic for 11 hours driving home to Chicago from the solar eclipse in Carbondale, IL. And I only made it half way home and had to stay overnight

I was stuck in traffic for 11 hours driving home to Chicago from the solar eclipse in Carbondale, IL. And I only made it half way home and had to stay overnight. That was the eclipse, not a massive natural disaster. I can't even imagine the secondary disaster a mass exodus might have been, with a million cars running out of gas.

zem 9y ago
you don't even need to imagine it; hurricane rita had over 100 evacuation-related fatalities, and i'm sure contributed a lot to the decision that evacuation was a bad idea this time.
Jun8 9y ago
Was stuck in the same horrible jam, too, finally bailed out and spent the night at a rest area, never saw one so full. Some part of the traffic was caused by poor planning on Illinois' part, having massive construction on 57 at the most inappropriate time.
- lp251 9y ago
  57 has been under construction since the dawn of time. Nothing new there.
  - otp124 9y ago
    And it's not like they'll just take the night off because of a solar eclipse.
KGIII 9y ago
They will oftentimes have a plan for evacuation that has been modeled ahead of time. Of course, they may not follow this plan. They should shut down inbound highways and use both sides for routing traffic out of the affected area. They should keep the breakdown lanes free of all obstructions to allow shuttles to have bi-directional traffic. Don't tow, or repair, personal vehicles that break down, shove them off the paved surface and put the people on the shuttles. Etc... Outbound traffic, properly routed, can be done quite rapidly. It takes cooperation and isn't very polite. It's also going to be a political disaster if the emergency turns out to have not been as bad as expected.
- dctoedt 9y ago
  > It's also going to be a political disaster if the emergency turns out to have not been as bad as expected. Spot on. The evacuation for Hurricane Rita turned out not to have been necessary, because the storm's actual impact on Houston was miniscule.
- AnimalMuppet 9y ago
  I've seen some road (I forgot where) prepared for exactly that - signed, even, for using both sides to evacuate (IIRC) the coast.
  - KGIII 9y ago
    They are fairly well marked throughout the Gulf. They are best marked in Florida, as I recall. I believe they are blue signs to mark the evacuation routes. Err... I modeled traffic, up to and including disaster plans.
komali2 9y ago
This is easily 10% of the reason I own a motorcycle.
- nsxwolf 9y ago
  I saw a couple speed by while the rest of us were at a standstill. I was envious.
sprokolopolis 9y ago
You are spot on. My parents live in Houston and during a past hurricane they were told to evacuate. They made it 2 miles from their house in 6 hours. When Houston floods, there are often not many obvious routes to take with passable roads. They eventually turned around and went home where they would be safer than stranded on a freeway. I was in Tropical Storm Allison in Houston. Within a few hours that I was at a concert, we went from light rain to the nearby freeway exit being 20 feet under water. We spent the night in a medical office building because we could find any passable route out of a 2 mile radius. My car was swept away into a drainage ditch and filled with water. People are better off staying home or moving to a nearby high-ground area. Than riding out a hurricane in a car in traffic.
chrisco255 9y ago
In Florida it is standard procedure to order evacuation of ANY city facing direct impact by hurricane. Florida, unlike Texas, is a heavily populated peninsula with only two or three major interstates leading out of the state. Do not tell me Houston is incapable of evacuation. It's no bigger than Miami and Houston residents have many more directions to disperse than Floridians.
- Pulcinella 9y ago
  Houston was not facing direct impact from the hurricane. It was not directly impacted. The hurricane passed south west of Houston. It's not the wind or storm surge that are the problem in Houston. It's the rain.
- rayiner 9y ago
  Houston is over six times larger than Miami.
  - chrisco255 9y ago
    Don't know where you're getting your numbers. Miami Metro pop: https://www.google.com/search?q=miami+metro+population&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS755US755&oq=miami+metro+population&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.5213j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 https://www.google.com/search?q=miami+metro+population&rlz=1... https://www.google.com/search?q=houston+metro+pop&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS755US755&oq=houston+metro+pop&aqs=chrome..69i57.3605j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 https://www.google.com/search?q=houston+metro+pop&rlz=1C1CHB... 5.5 million vs. 6.5 million. Quite comparable. (can't just look at city limits for pop numbers)
- dctoedt 9y ago
  > Do not tell me Houston is incapable of evacuation. You're familiar with the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf?

zem 9y ago

you don't even need to imagine it; hurricane rita had over 100 evacuation-related fatalities, and i'm sure contributed a lot to the decision that evacuation was a bad idea this time.

Jun8 9y ago

Was stuck in the same horrible jam, too, finally bailed out and spent the night at a rest area, never saw one so full. Some part of the traffic was caused by poor planning on Illinois' part, having massive construction on 57 at the most inappropriate time.

lp251 9y ago
57 has been under construction since the dawn of time. Nothing new there.
- otp124 9y ago
  And it's not like they'll just take the night off because of a solar eclipse.

KGIII 9y ago

They will oftentimes have a plan for evacuation that has been modeled ahead of time. Of course, they may not follow this plan. They should shut down inbound highways and use both sides for routing traffic out of the affected area. They should keep the breakdown lanes free of all obstructions to allow shuttles to have bi-directional traffic. Don't tow, or repair, personal vehicles that break down, shove them off the paved surface and put the people on the shuttles. Etc... Outbound traffic, properly routed, can be done quite rapidly. It takes cooperation and isn't very polite. It's also going to be a political disaster if the emergency turns out to have not been as bad as expected.

dctoedt 9y ago
> It's also going to be a political disaster if the emergency turns out to have not been as bad as expected. Spot on. The evacuation for Hurricane Rita turned out not to have been necessary, because the storm's actual impact on Houston was miniscule.
AnimalMuppet 9y ago
I've seen some road (I forgot where) prepared for exactly that - signed, even, for using both sides to evacuate (IIRC) the coast.
- KGIII 9y ago
  They are fairly well marked throughout the Gulf. They are best marked in Florida, as I recall. I believe they are blue signs to mark the evacuation routes. Err... I modeled traffic, up to and including disaster plans.

komali2 9y ago

This is easily 10% of the reason I own a motorcycle.

nsxwolf 9y ago
I saw a couple speed by while the rest of us were at a standstill. I was envious.

sprokolopolis 9y ago

You are spot on. My parents live in Houston and during a past hurricane they were told to evacuate. They made it 2 miles from their house in 6 hours. When Houston floods, there are often not many obvious routes to take with passable roads. They eventually turned around and went home where they would be safer than stranded on a freeway. I was in Tropical Storm Allison in Houston. Within a few hours that I was at a concert, we went from light rain to the nearby freeway exit being 20 feet under water. We spent the night in a medical office building because we could find any passable route out of a 2 mile radius. My car was swept away into a drainage ditch and filled with water. People are better off staying home or moving to a nearby high-ground area. Than riding out a hurricane in a car in traffic.

chrisco255 9y ago

In Florida it is standard procedure to order evacuation of ANY city facing direct impact by hurricane. Florida, unlike Texas, is a heavily populated peninsula with only two or three major interstates leading out of the state. Do not tell me Houston is incapable of evacuation. It's no bigger than Miami and Houston residents have many more directions to disperse than Floridians.

Pulcinella 9y ago
Houston was not facing direct impact from the hurricane. It was not directly impacted. The hurricane passed south west of Houston. It's not the wind or storm surge that are the problem in Houston. It's the rain.
rayiner 9y ago
Houston is over six times larger than Miami.
- chrisco255 9y ago
  Don't know where you're getting your numbers. Miami Metro pop: https://www.google.com/search?q=miami+metro+population&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS755US755&oq=miami+metro+population&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.5213j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 https://www.google.com/search?q=miami+metro+population&rlz=1... https://www.google.com/search?q=houston+metro+pop&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS755US755&oq=houston+metro+pop&aqs=chrome..69i57.3605j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 https://www.google.com/search?q=houston+metro+pop&rlz=1C1CHB... 5.5 million vs. 6.5 million. Quite comparable. (can't just look at city limits for pop numbers)
dctoedt 9y ago
> Do not tell me Houston is incapable of evacuation. You're familiar with the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf?