Contraflow Evacuation Maps

Updates for 2009 (Mississippi DOT Assisting)

2009-04-14T23:31:00.004-05:00

Will there be changes to Louisiana's contraflow maps this year? Yep!

Amber Hebert, Public Information Officer for the LA Department of Transportation and Development, says that they are "extending the maps further into Mississippi."

THIS IS GREAT NEWS! Working with Mississippi Department of Transportation should alleviate some of the evacuation bottlenecks we saw during Gustav's evacuation. We'll update contraflowmaps.com as soon as the maps are published.

Busy Few Days

2008-09-02T21:09:00.002-05:00

I heard horror stories of the contraflow disaster at the I-59/I-10/I-12 interchange. Jindal has got to fix this, or people will not evacuate.

We also got a few emails from visitors who wanted help planning their route. The most common question was "Can I take I-10 East at the I-59/10/12 interchange?"

Thanks go out to The Wall Street Journal Storm Tracker blog for the link love, but WWLTV's link from their home page sent in the most traffic.

Third Anniversary

2008-08-30T00:02:00.001-05:00

Today is the third anniversary of Katrina and traffic to contraflowmaps.com is heavy. Thanks for all the link love.

Special thanks to wwltv.com for the home page link. Check out their video exlplaining New Orleans Contraflow.

One Week Until Hurricane Season 2008

2008-05-24T15:48:00.004-05:00

Are you ready for hurricane season 2008? It starts June 1st.

The Colorado State University Forecast team "upgraded its early season forecast today from the Bahamas Weather Conference, saying the U.S. Atlantic basin will likely experience a well above-average hurricane season."

15 named tropical storms gathering between June 1 and November 30
8 storms are expected to intensify into hurricanes (winds > 74 mph)

Also, here is some blog love for contraflowmaps.com

Blog suspended? What the #@$! ?

2007-08-21T23:47:00.002-05:00

The folks at Blogger suspended the Contraflow Maps blog for a few hours Monday on suspicion of SPAM. Their detection bots look for

"irrelevant, repetitive, or nonsensical text, along with a large number of links, usually all pointing to a single site."

My English professors would have been seriously disappointed.

We pushed out another [very small] update today.

About 10% of our visits are coming from small monitors at 800x600 resolution, so we decreased the size of those route labels for them.
Prevented the possibility of browser memory leaks.
Added some additional helpful links including Meghan Gordon's TP article on contraflow from May 2007 and a great repository of Google Map applications at Google Maps Mania.

LTC Newsletter and Weekend Updates

2007-08-19T03:27:00.000-05:00

The Louisiana Technology Council featured contraflowmaps.com in its newsletter this week.

Here are this weekend's updates:

Added a Bookmark Route Feature
Fixed the issue with the browser back button
General user interface and code cleanup

contraflowmaps.com is live

2007-08-16T05:20:00.000-05:00

New Orleans is buzzing about Dean. We cut the pilot short. Thanks for all of the emails and blog love.

Check out contraflowmaps.com

Here is what we've added:

Google AdSense (all proceeds will go to New Orleans recovery organizations)
Added a Help / About Us page
Routed Jackson via I-55 and added some route tips (Please comment on this Route UI)
Upgraded our host (1&1 Internet)
Changed our destination cities to Jackson and Hattiesburg
Started laying out the printable versions

Comments are appreciated.

Today we are trying to route the three missing contraflow routes and publish the printable versions of each route. Then we'll start on the rest of the list:

25. Add Alternate / Submitted Routes
26. Add Arrows after initial crossover to help show direction
27. Full Browser Test
28. Reduce Arrow Size
29. Load Test
30. Bookmark This Route
31. Dampen Scroll Mouse
32. Make Arrows Clickable
33. I55 Cross Arial Views are 79KB
34. Add Tabbed InfoWindows to show alternate aerial or Ground Level View
35. Replace I-55 Crossover Poly
36. Encode Polylines for faster rendering
37. Message Board for Each Route
38. Verify Info with LSU/LSP
39. Route Survey or Show Results using Analytics Data as Source
40. Show full evacuation map with marching ants
41. Map of Gas Stations, Welcome Centers and Hospitals that are accessible on Contraflow Routes
42. Hotel List Generator
43. Estimate Drivetimes (City of NO has this done)
44. Clean Code

Check for Browser Memory Leaks
Split Pages
Standardize Variables
XML Data for Easier Cloning

Release Date Revised

2007-08-14T00:24:00.000-05:00

After a quick call today, Debbie, Peter and I decided to launch the contraflow maps on August 29th (the two-year Katrina Anniversary) or when a hurricane enters the gulf, whichever comes first. To be notified of the launch email us: contraflowmaps@gmail.com .

Contraflow Map Pilot Released!

2007-08-12T16:54:00.000-05:00

We've just finished the alpha version of New Orleans Contraflow Map:

New Orleans Contraflow Map

Comments would be greatly appreciated. Please post them here.

Note: Only the I-10 Contraflow to Baton Rouge (i.e Contrastate 10) has been published. We want to lock down the UI before we map everything else. We will map the rest of the Greater New Orleans area within the week. We are planning to release the first public version on September 1st.

For what it's worth, here is our current To Do List:

Route to Kentwood
1. I55
2. Causeway
Route to Poplarville
1. 10 West
2. Twinspan
Printable Route Map (See Google Print Function)
Adwords (All Proceeds Donated to NOLA Recovery)
Make Arrows Clickable
Add Tabbed InfoWindows to show alternate aerial or Ground Level View
Replace I-55 Crossover Poly
Encode Polylines for faster rendering
Verify Info with LSU/LSP
Route Survey or Show Results using Analytics Data as Source
Show full evacuate map with marching ants
Map of Gas Stations on Contraflow Routes
Hotel List Generator
Estimate Drivetimes
Clean Code
1. Check for Browser Memory Leaks
2. Standardize Variables
3. XML Data for Easier Cloning
Add Credits Page
Printable Evacuation Package

Frequently Asked Questions about the Contraflow Map Project

2007-08-12T15:56:00.000-05:00

The first question Debbie and I get when explaining our new project is "Hasn't the state already published evacuation maps?"

They have. With funds from the Department of Homeland Security, the State of Louisiana has published the Louisiana Citizen Awareness and Disaster Evacuation Guide for both the Southeast (PDF 33.4 MB) and Southwest (Front and Back) (PDF 6.5MB and 7.8MB respectively MB) regions. The heart of these guides are the contraflow maps:
Southeast Contraflow (JPEG 1.0 MB)
Southwest Contraflow (PDF 0.5 MB)
We found the maps difficult to digest, so we've been on a tare to convert these maps into a Web-based version. We don't have anything negative to say about the state's maps. The contraflow system was developed less than five years ago, so the state's maps are positive progress. Also, only 44% of Louisiana citizens have Internet access. Printed maps are a necessity

Neither Debbie nor I have picked up a hammer to work on another New Orleans citizen's home who wasn't already a friend, although we have swung a few hammers on our own flooded homes. This is our Katrina contribution.

How did we create the maps?

We used Google Maps API. Google Maps' usability is awesome, their API is continually updated, there is a large group of developers who've released custom code, and there is an active discussion group.

Are the maps accurate?

We've surveyed the accuracy of the maps using satellite imagery, and when satellite imagery was unavailable, we surveyed from the air. However, drivers should always follow law enforcement directions when on the road.

Will the state ask you to remove the maps?

They might. We hope the Louisiana State Police, the Louisiana Department of Transportation, and the Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness will validate the accuracy and make comments, but we hope they won't retard what we consider significant progress in the dissemination of contraflow information.

What's the end goal?

We'd like to map evacuate routes for all of Louisiana's regions.

Can't someone steal your code for the maps?

We hope so.

The maps are publicly available and so is the source code. We used parts of other developers' code for these maps. We hope citizens in other states use our code to map out their regions. If they need help, they can contact us via this blog.