I live in Washington, D.C. -- smack in the middle of the Beltway -- and was here on 9/11/01. On that day, after the Pentagon was hit, a lot of my friends gave up on cars and walked home -- for miles -- to Virginia and Maryland. Since then this area has had a couple more experiences with evacuations and I've given a lot of thought to my own options in evacuating in an emergency.

I've concluded that it is fantasy to think I could get any appreciable distance without getting stuck for many hours. Hotels, forget it. I'd be either staying at a friend's or camping - fortunately I have a vehicle suited to sleeping inside.

So if the crisis is something involving several days warning, such as a hurricane, I'll err on the side of evacuating early. Anything posing a choice between sheltering in and hitting the road would likely have me staying home and perhaps leaving when the worst of the traffic crush is over.

Meanwhile, I keep my fuel tank topped off and the car is well equipped at all times. Never know where you'll be when something happens....


http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-08-24/local/35270649_1_web-site-information-earthquake

Earthquake illustrates colossal challenge of evacuating Washington, D.C.

By Ashley Halsey III and Ed O’Keefe,August 24, 2011

"...it is impossible for everyone to leave town in a hurry.

“Not only can it not be done, we should not try it,” said Ron Kirby, transportation planning coordinator for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

“You can just look at the evacuations that are taking place for the hurricane that’s approaching to see that in most cases they take several days,” said Montgomery County Council member Phil Andrews, who chairs the Emergency Preparedness Council, a regional committee under the Council of Governments.


http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dc-continues-struggle-orderly-evacuations

D.C. continues to struggle with orderly evacuations

Published 30 August 2011

Even during normal traffic conditions the city’s streets are clogged. The city’s nineteen evacuation routes are routinely jammed during rush hour due to the large number of employees commuting in and out of the city. D.C.’s population roughly triples from 600,000 to 1.8 million each workday resulting in severe strains on the city’s transportation infrastructure.