It usually takes second-year English student Hieu Dao ten
minutes to drive from UCLA to the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center
for her volunteer job.
But recently, on days when Westwood Boulevard and Veteran Avenue
saw anti-war protests, the commute from campus to the hospital took
Dao an entire hour.
“Even the bus is trying to take the residential streets.
It’s absolute chaos,” Dao said. “Anybody who is
trying to leave couldn’t go through Westwood.”
Westwood is home to a federal building, a site that bares
witness to most anti-war protests that can cause traffic congestion
for UCLA commuters. Problems have ranged from a sea of non-moving
cars to closed on-ramp and off-ramp exits.
UCLA Transportation Services is working closely with the
university police, the Los Angeles Police Department and the
Department of Transportation in expediting traffic around the area,
especially during protests.
One way they are trying to help is by informing the UCLA
community about alternate routes.
Traffic manager of UCLA Transportation Services Stephen Rand
said his department is responsible for providing directions to the
closest exits around the campus and redirecting traffic away from
major traffic arteries ““ such as Wilshire Boulevard ““
during protests.
“We suggest the alternate routes and provide the
information to (UCLA) Facilities Management, which in turn e-mails
building coordinators who let everybody know about the
routes,” Rand said.
Rand emphasized, however, that mass e-mails are used sparingly
because of concerns that frequent use might make the UCLA community
less concerned and not realize the importance of the information
communicated in the e-mails.
Rand said Transportation Services is also working to broadcast
traffic information via radio. Those who are affiliated with the
campus can tune in to AM 810 for traffic information specific to
the UCLA area.
The issue of quickly evacuating the campus in case of a true
emergency has recently become a concern especially for third-year
transfer, Chicano studies student Rosio Sarabia.
She said the importance of being able to leave campus quickly
didn’t really dawn on her until the false bomb threat at the
Medical Plaza on Wednesday.
“I wasn’t thinking about it until I heard about the
false bomb threat. Now, I’m concerned,” Sarabia
said.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, Facilities Management has made changes
allowing for a quick dissemination of information in case of
“true emergencies” that involve not just earthquakes,
but “man-made activities that may or may may not directly
affect the campus,” said Jack Powazek, assistant
vice-chairman of Facilities Management and Environmental Health and
Safety.
Powazek said the communication systems have been in place since
the late 1980s and early 1990s as a preventative measure in case of
an earthquake. But since Sept. 11, 2001, the communication system
has been upgraded to accommodate a bigger volume of inquiry calls
and to quickly disperse information to anyone who is affiliated
with the campus.
This communication system includes a mass e-mail system, a Web
site, UCLA television channel 3 and radio station AM 810 which are
all used to inform the community during emergencies.
The mass e-mail system is now faster. Powazek said e-mails will
be sent out to everyone, not just building coordinators, but
students as well.
The Web site, www.ucla.edu, has also been upgraded in order to
accommodate a greater number of visitors. The emergency phone
number, 1-800-900-UCLA, has also been upgraded and can now handle
hundreds of calls, Powazek said.
He said UCLA channel 3 will also be utilized to get information
out quickly to everyone.
In case of an emergency where the entire campus needs to be
vacated Transportation Services has an evacuation plan in place
that will allow for the quickest evacuation and minimize traffic
chaos.
According to Rand, the evacuation plan, which will be available
on the Transportation Services Web site next week, was developed in
1993 and meant “to direct all traffic to the nearest campus
exit.”
Rand said Transportation Services has an agreement with the Los
Angeles Police Department to allow the maximum amount of green
lights in order to direct people out of campus.
The Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control, which controls
all traffic signals in Los Angeles, will be in a “flush
mode” which means traffic signals would be programmed to
allot the maximum amount of green-light time to the UCLA
community.
Rand also said the evacuation plan segments the campus by
parking structures in order to prevent bottle necks.
For instance, in Structure 3, support staff and barricades will
be directing all cars exiting the parking structure to travel south
toward Wyton Drive and Hilgard Avenue for the nearest campus exit.
Sixteen other campus evacuation route locations have been mapped
out.
Powazek said UCLA is prepared to handle any type of
emergency.
For more information about
evacuation plans, visit www.transportation.ucla.edu.