Why not make lanes into N.O. OUTBOUND ONLY?

[Anonymous]

I'm seeing shots on New Orleans news video of bumper to bumper traffic at a standstill on one side of the highways/interstates and maybe one car traveling on the other side. If I was governor of N.O. I would now be declaring an emergency and preventing any traffic from entering the city and opening those lanes of concrete to those evacuating the city while conditions are still favorable for it.

 

[Anthony Petito]

Ive been wondering the same things. The news has also reported that people have decided to srive on the opposite side of the Interstate. They made one-way lanes in Florida for a much weaker storm. I still don't know why they have not done this yet. Perhaps not enough emergency response units to facilitate it?

 

[Anonymous]

They started contraflow yesterday....you can go to NO local news sites to see maps of which roads are outbound only

 

[Jay McCoy]

The highway system has been on "contraflow" since saturday evening which means both sides used as outbound. The probelm is highways are designed that way and getting on and off the wrong side is difficult due to traffic lights facing the wrong way. I have seen tv coverage of cars using both sides of the highway just maybe not in certain sections of the city

 

[B Ozanne]

They have done this, its called contra-flow. In fact they have spent tens of millions of dollars planning this evacuation. Many shots you see on tv don't show the contra-flow, but believe me its going on.

 

[Tim Vasquez]

The shot being referred to of "no contraflow" looks a lot like the northern terminus of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway... indeed there is massive northbound traffic and a few vehicles going southbound. I am guessing it's such a vital link that imposing contraflow would prevent legitimate people from getting in (emergency people, National Guard, doctors, etc).

Tim

 

[David Schuttler]

I think the media usues whatever tape they have and some of the ones being shown are from yesterday before the contra-flow went into effect.

 

[Brandon Clement]

The Contra-flow has been ongoing and so far has been extremely successful. I know on I-55 N all four lanes are north bound all the way to McComb, Ms. I have talked to several people that got to Jackson this morning and said the traffic was smooth almost all the way to Jackson. There have been several traffic jams on I-55 just south of I-20. Last year when they evacuated for Ivan people were in the cars for 18 hours getting to Jackson as compared to 3-4 hours last night and this morning. There has been years of planning and every hurricane that comes through they note the problem areas and come up with a solution for the next one. It takes 72 hours to evacuate the entire city and thats if there are no problems and using the contra-flow. Looks like they will get everyone that is willing to leave out quicker than expected.