S...
01-21-2003, 07:22 AM
Scare tactic? You make the call, though i think it's pretty obvious.
Link to the pic, it won't post for some reason.
http://www.geocities.com/theawakeningnews/Police_State-FEMA_Signs.html
The green-and-white signs are models of understatement, calculated not to excite or alarm. There is, for example, absolutely no mention of evacuation.
"We like to call them 'event routes,' " D.C. Transportation Director Dan Tangherlini said of the 14 major roads that will soon point the way out. "We didn't want to call them evacuation routes, because we were trying to come up with something that's not going to scare the people."
Washington area planners, prompted by the terrorist attacks in September, are making contingency plans for a rapid evacuation of the capital, a civil defense measure not considered since the height of the Cold War. But they are moving discreetly, hoping not to worry the public too much.
The two-by-three-foot traffic signs indicating the route away from Washington will display only an arrow, the interstate route sign for the Capital Beltway and the words "to Maryland" or "to Virginia." Inbound, the signs will trade the familiar Interstate 495 shield for a circle representing the Mall, with images of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, cherry blossoms included.
Left unsaid is what wide-scale catastrophe might prompt an order for 180,000 federal workers, 572,000 residents and countless commuters, tourists and visitors to leave Washington on a typical workday -- or require military or out-of-state emergency crews to steer their way downtown.
Officials say they aren't being coy, just practical. Transportation planners who consulted federal officials rejected several more eye-catching sign formats. Out were hot pink signs, used for emergency detours on U.S. highways, and round blue "Evacuation Route" signs, used by coastal communities in hurricane zones.
"We figured that's not the greatest thing to stick up in a town whose largest [private] industry is tourism," Tangherlini said.
Planners decided that less is more.
Motorists will be quietly directed to the 66-mile circular Beltway -- a key artery in case of a major disruption.
D.C. officials also have an economic motive behind the signs: They can guide tourists through streets that are notoriously poorly marked. "For 25 million guests a year who come to this city, maybe we will help them find their way downtown from the Beltway," Tangherlini said.
The sign design and the "Greater Washington Event Preparedness Map," which is part of the evacuation plan, reflect contingencies being developed by all levels of government in and around Washington.
Officials released the map after deleting sensitive information about staging areas, emergency landing zones, operations headquarters and internal transportation routes designated for use by federal and local authorities in the event of a biological, chemical or nuclear attack.
The major public routes are familiar to commuters: Canal and Benning roads; Constitution, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Georgia, Rhode Island, New York, Kenilworth and Pennsylvania avenues; 16th Street NW; Interstates 295 and 395; and Key Bridge.
In an emergency, the instructions are simple.
Those situated north of Pennsylvania Avenue should leave to the north; those south should exit to the south.
The landmark avenue, which links the White House and U.S. Capitol, roughly divides the city in two, with about the same number of workers and vehicles on each side.
The District will spend about $187,500 to erect 750 signs in the next six weeks.
Maryland and Virginia are completing plans to place signs later this year on the evacuation corridors, which will extend until they intersect with the Beltway at 26 points.
Citing computer models, D.C. engineers say they have cut the estimated time needed to evacuate downtown Washington to three hours and 10 minutes, down from the four chaotic hours that roads were jammed Sept. 11. In theory, city engineers say 800,000 vehicles used daily by commuters could leave in two hours under perfect conditions.
"We've cut minutes, even hours off a potential evacuation," Tangherlini said. "I just hope we have no reason to find out how good those models are."
Link to the pic, it won't post for some reason.
http://www.geocities.com/theawakeningnews/Police_State-FEMA_Signs.html
The green-and-white signs are models of understatement, calculated not to excite or alarm. There is, for example, absolutely no mention of evacuation.
"We like to call them 'event routes,' " D.C. Transportation Director Dan Tangherlini said of the 14 major roads that will soon point the way out. "We didn't want to call them evacuation routes, because we were trying to come up with something that's not going to scare the people."
Washington area planners, prompted by the terrorist attacks in September, are making contingency plans for a rapid evacuation of the capital, a civil defense measure not considered since the height of the Cold War. But they are moving discreetly, hoping not to worry the public too much.
The two-by-three-foot traffic signs indicating the route away from Washington will display only an arrow, the interstate route sign for the Capital Beltway and the words "to Maryland" or "to Virginia." Inbound, the signs will trade the familiar Interstate 495 shield for a circle representing the Mall, with images of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, cherry blossoms included.
Left unsaid is what wide-scale catastrophe might prompt an order for 180,000 federal workers, 572,000 residents and countless commuters, tourists and visitors to leave Washington on a typical workday -- or require military or out-of-state emergency crews to steer their way downtown.
Officials say they aren't being coy, just practical. Transportation planners who consulted federal officials rejected several more eye-catching sign formats. Out were hot pink signs, used for emergency detours on U.S. highways, and round blue "Evacuation Route" signs, used by coastal communities in hurricane zones.
"We figured that's not the greatest thing to stick up in a town whose largest [private] industry is tourism," Tangherlini said.
Planners decided that less is more.
Motorists will be quietly directed to the 66-mile circular Beltway -- a key artery in case of a major disruption.
D.C. officials also have an economic motive behind the signs: They can guide tourists through streets that are notoriously poorly marked. "For 25 million guests a year who come to this city, maybe we will help them find their way downtown from the Beltway," Tangherlini said.
The sign design and the "Greater Washington Event Preparedness Map," which is part of the evacuation plan, reflect contingencies being developed by all levels of government in and around Washington.
Officials released the map after deleting sensitive information about staging areas, emergency landing zones, operations headquarters and internal transportation routes designated for use by federal and local authorities in the event of a biological, chemical or nuclear attack.
The major public routes are familiar to commuters: Canal and Benning roads; Constitution, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Georgia, Rhode Island, New York, Kenilworth and Pennsylvania avenues; 16th Street NW; Interstates 295 and 395; and Key Bridge.
In an emergency, the instructions are simple.
Those situated north of Pennsylvania Avenue should leave to the north; those south should exit to the south.
The landmark avenue, which links the White House and U.S. Capitol, roughly divides the city in two, with about the same number of workers and vehicles on each side.
The District will spend about $187,500 to erect 750 signs in the next six weeks.
Maryland and Virginia are completing plans to place signs later this year on the evacuation corridors, which will extend until they intersect with the Beltway at 26 points.
Citing computer models, D.C. engineers say they have cut the estimated time needed to evacuate downtown Washington to three hours and 10 minutes, down from the four chaotic hours that roads were jammed Sept. 11. In theory, city engineers say 800,000 vehicles used daily by commuters could leave in two hours under perfect conditions.
"We've cut minutes, even hours off a potential evacuation," Tangherlini said. "I just hope we have no reason to find out how good those models are."