FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 20, 2005

CONTACT:  SID GAULDEN, 803-896-8409

 

 DPS, OTHER STATE AGENCIES TO CONDUCT FULL-SCALE

HURRICANE LANE REVERSAL EXERCISES

 

COLUMBIA - The South Carolina Department of Public Safety, in conjunction with other state agencies, will conduct a full-scale hurricane evacuation exercise on Tuesday, June 21, to test and validate lane reversal plans.

 

This exercise will involve the deployment of law enforcement personnel and traffic control devices to test the procedures in the event that Gov. Mark Sanford orders I-26 reversed for a hurricane evacuation. Lanes will not be reversed as part of the exercise.

 

Hurricane season began June 1.

           

The exercise should not interfere with the flow of traffic. Interchanges will not actually be blocked, and motorists will be allowed to move freely. However, the Highway Patrol cautions motorists traveling I-26 to exercise due care and be aware that law enforcement officers and DOT employees will be located on the shoulder of the highway and at exits.

 

The South Carolina Highway Patrol, State Transport Police, State Law Enforcement Division, Department of Transportation, and Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services and South Carolina Emergency Management Division will be participating in the exercise, which should begin around 10 a.m. and last until 4 p.m.

 

As with an actual emergency, the simulation will begin at the intersection of I-526 and I-26 in Charleston and will end at I-77 and I-26 in Columbia. Law enforcement officers will be deployed to cover every interchange between these points. DOT will supply barricades, cones and other traffic control devices needed to reconfigure the interstate into a one-way operation. Aircraft from SLED will be deployed to monitor the I-26 corridor as part of the exercise.

 

 “It is absolutely critical that we do everything in our power to ensure we are prepared for the predicated active hurricane season,” said DPS Director James K. Schweitzer. “We have found these exercises to be highly useful in past years.”   

 

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