Work Evacuation Plan Revisited
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Several months ago I wrote a post entitled, But I’m Working Now – Creating Your Work Evacuation Plan. As mentioned, both Sarah and I commute to Seattle for work (separately, our work schedules only overlap in the afternoons), and we only work about a mile apart. We had made a plan for how we would meet up with each other in the event of a disaster.

So if we’re both there [in Seattle], she would come up the hill to where I work. My workplace is more secure, further from the water, and away from the downtown congested high-rise area. In case I have to leave work also, we’ve discussed what street she would walk up and what side of the street she would be on.

Recently we had to revisit, and revise, that plan.

So the ‘great work-evacuation plan’ that Sarah and I had come up with failed to take into account that minor detail. And just to clarify, it would be incredibly difficult–if not impossible–to cross the freeway without the overpass bridges; it’s too far down and up vertical cement surfaces. Back to the drawing board…

There are several roads that travel across the freeway going from downtown to Capitol Hill; our primary choice was Pike St. and our alternate was Pine St. (parallel streets). So recently I walked both roads with our plan in mind. Pike St. appears to be a very secure overpass–the convention center is literally built over the freeway there–it is a short bridge, and it is supported as well as possible; Pike St. will still be our primary route. When I looked at Pine St., I found that it is the longest overpass in the area with another street that intersects it right above the freeway; we felt that would be a poor route with a much higher probability of failing. We looked further and determined Seneca St., a few blocks south, is well supported and another short overpass bridge and chose to make that our secondary route. Our third choice is 8th Ave., a tunnel that runs underneath the convention center, then over the freeway. Once across the freeway, we’d attempt to make it back to Pike St. to continue to one of the predetermined meeting points.

I realize this is a lot of detail for anyone not in our situation and makes little sense to anyone not familiar with Seattle. But the point is: Determine your routes of evacuation and make a solid plan, then double and triple check your plan for flaws. Start by mapping it out, then make sure you drive (or walk) your evacuation routes both to familiarize yourself with them and to look for potential problem areas. When you develop your evacuation plan choose three routes, and have three potential meeting points. If you ever need to put your evacuation plan into action, especially if that plan is required to allow you to meet up with your family members, it needs to work.

(Wednesday: Momma Bear)