During a lunchtime walk today I noticed the new “evacuation route” on Pennsylvania Avenue. More than 3,500 street signs will get this new blue attachment but there is no hint as to which way you should go to get out of the city. In contrast, Constitution Avenue has East Coast Greenway signs that tell you which way to go to find the route from Florida to Maine.
Maybe knowing which way to go does not matter since most of the evacuation routes are at 120 percent of capacity during normal rush hours. Seven years after 9/11, the region does not appear to have made any real progress when it comes to evacuation plans. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently spent $1.4 million on a guide that was supposed to coordinate DC-Virginia-Maryland evacuation plans but failed because of turf issues.
I had only been in Washington DC for three months when the Pentagon was hit. As my colleagues and I evacuated downtown Washington I realized I had no idea which way was home since I rode the Metro every day. Today I know which way to walk to get home and once I am there I would probably just hunker down: My county in Maryland has decided not to publish evacuation routes and shelter locations in order to “maintain flexibility.”
Maybe that is what DHS should have done. Rather than bear the brunt of criticism for not coming up with a good plan, they should have just told everyone that the plan is secret. We would tell you, but then we would have to kill you.
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