A new evacuation plan

from the Florida Department of Transportation allows motorists to drive on shoulders of highways instead of the more complicated process of making all lanes one-way.

If a hurricane comes this year, people in Florida will find new rules for getting out of town.

A new evacuation plan from the Florida Department of Transportation allows motorists to drive on shoulders of highways instead of the more complicated process of making all lanes one-way.

The routes include Interstate 4 from Tampa to Orlando, Interstate 10 from Jacksonville to I-75, I-75 from Wildwood to the Georgia state line and Interstate 75 along Alligator Alley.

However, part of Florida’s Turnpike will continue to make all lanes toll-free and one-way in the event a hurricane reaches Category 3 (111 mph) or stronger.

The turnpike evacuation route begins just north of the Boynton Beach Interchange, at mile marker 88, and continues north for 166 miles to the Orlando area, ending at mile marker 254.

“The benefits of the shoulderuse plan are that it takes just a great deal less staff and resources to accomplish that as opposed to reverse lanes or contraflow,” said Jeff Frost, with FDOT.

“We are not going to do shoulder-running on the turnpike because there’s just too many pinchpoints [where shoulders narrow or disappear] to make that feasible,” he said.

The few remaining interstate pinch-points where evacuation routes narrow will be handled with signs, detours, lane shifting or a temporary traffic control plan, such as having police direct traffic, Frost said.

Florida’s reversible lane plan was inspired by road-clogging evacuations before Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

But some emergency managers have expressed reservations about the practicality of the long-held tactic.

For example, converting an 80-mile stretch of Alligator Alley into four lanes of one-way traffic would require hundreds of highway patrol cars, more than 4,000 orange cones and 24 hours to carry out.

One wrong-way collisions involving a confused driver would slow or stall evacuation traffic and defeat the purpose of the reverse lanes.

Some drivers are hesitant to go against the flow, Frost said.

“Fewer people are going to get on the reverse lanes to automatically cut the traffic load in half,” he said. “They just wouldn’t feel comfortable for whatever reason.”

Several coastal and gulf states from Virginia to Texas have adopted the one-way vehicle evacuation strategy on select highways as a worst-case-scenario option

Shoulder use is also seen as a time-saver. Roads allowing shoulder use can be driven 24 hours a day, allowing more people to flee. Reverse lanes could be driven only in daylight.

Under the new plan, the inside or left shoulder would be open to evacuees on interstate roadways with three or more lanes in each direction.

Highways with two lanes in each direction would open the outside or right shoulder to traffic.

Because shoulders are 2 feet narrower than regular lanes and have rumble-strips, top speeds will be 30 to 40 mph and only cars and SUVs will be able to use them. Buses and trucks must use regular lanes.