That 14 Hour Traffic Jam

[HyBruce]

I wonder if any RX 400h owners were stuck in that horrible traffic jam fleeing Hurricane Rita.

I wonder how the car would do in a 100 mile traffic jam, driving at a stop and start crawl.

Any thoughts?

[monarch]

The great mystery to me is why tens of thousands of people used the interstate highways to get out of town?? Why didn't they just drive north and west from Houston on the numerous uncrowded back country roads? Some reporters tried the back country roads and found it was easy to get away from Houston and Galveston.

Another mystery to me is why didn't the tens of thousands of people follow the course of the hurricane on TV before deciding to leave Houston? If they had done that they would have seen the hurricane was NOT directly headed for Houston and there was no urgent need to evacuate. They would have also seen the hurricane was weakening to a category 3 which is too weak to flatten houses and threaten alot of lives.

Now it looks like some lives will be needlessly lost from flooding - again because people aren't monitoring the storm and realizing that the storm is going to stall out and dump 10-20 inches of rain over the area just east of Houston.

[JasonATL]

My experience with my 400h tells me that there is a "sweet spot" for a traffic jam. There has to be enough cruising to enable the battery to charge, but enough slow traffic to allow the car to be propelled by the electric motors alone. This happens to me fairly regularly on my commute. Fortunately, it only lasts for 5 miles or so. During those conditions, I regularly get 40 or so MPG. If the traffic jam is too congested and it only goes 10 MPH for a long time (5 or so miles), then the batteries are eventually depleted and the MPG drops dramatically as the ICE kicks in to keep the batteries charged (while not moving). As I've posted before, the battery depletion time is cut dramatically by running the AC. So, these observations are based on my commute recently during cooler weather without running the AC.

So, in the 100 miles of a 5 hour jam (where the avg MPH is clearly 20 MPH), then it would depend on whether the traffic ever moved at 40-50 MPH to allow the batteries to charge while coasting to a standstill.

[digitalfx]

The great mystery to me is why tens of thousands of people used the interstate highways to get out of town?? Why didn't they just drive north and west from Houston on the numerous uncrowded back country roads? Some reporters tried the back country roads and found it was easy to get away from Houston and Galveston. 

Another mystery to me is why didn't the tens of thousands of people follow the course of the hurricane on TV before deciding to leave Houston?  If they had done that they would have seen the hurricane was NOT directly headed for Houston and there was no urgent need to evacuate. They would have also seen the hurricane was weakening to a category 3 which is too weak to flatten houses and threaten alot of lives. 

Now it looks like some lives will be needlessly lost from flooding - again because people aren't monitoring the storm and realizing that the storm is going to stall out and dump 10-20 inches of rain over the area just east of Houston.

←

Yea, I guess you have alot of experience in this area out in Sacramento. Give me a break!!

[blake918]

The great mystery to me is why tens of thousands of people used the interstate highways to get out of town?? Why didn't they just drive north and west from Houston on the numerous uncrowded back country roads? Some reporters tried the back country roads and found it was easy to get away from Houston and Galveston. 

Another mystery to me is why didn't the tens of thousands of people follow the course of the hurricane on TV before deciding to leave Houston?  If they had done that they would have seen the hurricane was NOT directly headed for Houston and there was no urgent need to evacuate. They would have also seen the hurricane was weakening to a category 3 which is too weak to flatten houses and threaten alot of lives. 

Now it looks like some lives will be needlessly lost from flooding - again because people aren't monitoring the storm and realizing that the storm is going to stall out and dump 10-20 inches of rain over the area just east of Houston.

←

Yea, I guess you have alot of experience in this area out in Sacramento. Give me a break!!

←

^^What he said! I don't have a 400h, but I would think the car would be great creeping along in a traffic jam!

New Orleans is nowhere near the size of Houston, and it took forever for us to leave even taking the back roads. "numerous uncrowded back country roads..." are you serious??

[katzjamr]

I was in a two hour nasty traffic jam on a friday nite solid stop and go, and coasting, or electric motor creeping at about ten mph and it was no problem. Cranked up the stereo, and the AC and made the best of it.

[dobby]

The great mystery to me is why tens of thousands of people used the interstate highways to get out of town?? Why didn't they just drive north and west from Houston on the numerous uncrowded back country roads? Some reporters tried the back country roads and found it was easy to get away from Houston and Galveston.

Another mystery to me is why didn't the tens of thousands of people follow the course of the hurricane on TV before deciding to leave Houston? If they had done that they would have seen the hurricane was NOT directly headed for Houston and there was no urgent need to evacuate. They would have also seen the hurricane was weakening to a category 3 which is too weak to flatten houses and threaten alot of lives.

Now it looks like some lives will be needlessly lost from flooding - again because people aren't monitoring the storm and realizing that the storm is going to stall out and dump 10-20 inches of rain over the area just east of Houston.

I hope this statement is derived merely from inexperience and ignorance rather than outright insensitivity. Having previously lived in Houston (but lucky enough ONLY to have witnessed flooding at the Texas Medical Center and not a direct hit from a hurricane), I've experienced many "back roads" that were easily washed out and flooded out from the rains that preceeded the storm. Even some of the highways that go under an overpass can be flooded. You have to turn back unless your willing to risk driving through it and stalling out your vehicle. If your trying to conserve the gas in your tank, it's not necessarily the best route.

Witnessing the devastation of Katrina and knowing that your home can still be flooded, if I've been advised to evacuate, I'd certainly consider it. Trying to decide what to pack of my entire possession into a vehicle and doing it quickly leaves little time to sit and watch the tv for the progression of a hurricane.

A ltitle more to the topic at hand, the closest I've experienced to a jam testing my 400h is at the US/Canada border crossing...nearly 3 hours to move about 1/2 mile. One time the battery ran down and the ICE kicked in, but even then mostly all electric and average 40+mpg on the monitor.

[ArmyofOne]

The great mystery to me is why tens of thousands of people used the interstate highways to get out of town?? Why didn't they just drive north and west from Houston on the numerous uncrowded back country roads? Some reporters tried the back country roads and found it was easy to get away from Houston and Galveston. 

Another mystery to me is why didn't the tens of thousands of people follow the course of the hurricane on TV before deciding to leave Houston?  If they had done that they would have seen the hurricane was NOT directly headed for Houston and there was no urgent need to evacuate. They would have also seen the hurricane was weakening to a category 3 which is too weak to flatten houses and threaten alot of lives. 

Now it looks like some lives will be needlessly lost from flooding - again because people aren't monitoring the storm and realizing that the storm is going to stall out and dump 10-20 inches of rain over the area just east of Houston.

←

Holy *BLEEP*, i cant believe im reading this. :chairshot:

you havent been watching the news. it was a mandatory evacuation. all routes out fo subdivisions were routed to the Interstates. they were forcing people onto both sides of I-45.

have you ever even been to houston? you have to take TX59 to get to 342 or any of those other country roads...they are 2 lanes with sometimes hundreds of miles between gas stations, VERY spotty cellular service and lets not forget emergency services for injured or the sick. still seem smart?

[SKperformance]

Please keep the evac bashing to another thread if so oriented.

thanks

no traffic with an 400h = no clue = no post

[utlonghorn]

I am a 400h owner that was stuck in the traffic jam. I live in the central area of Houston. On Wednesday evening, the forecast was for a category 5 storm to hit Galveston-Houston in approximately 48 hours on Friday evening with the weather deteriorating beginning Friday morning. I wanted to get up early Thursday morning and check for any changes in the track. My wife wanted to leave immediately on Wednesday evening. Thank goodness I listened to her. Our trip to San Antonio which normally would take about 3 hours took seven hours. Friends of mine that left early Thursday morning took 25 hours. I have lived in Houston for fifty years and been through several storms. It is not only the sheer terror of experiencing the storm as it passes over for several hours. It is also the aftermath of flooded streets and homes, no electricity for days with the outside temperature in the upper 90's, days of no grocery stores and no gas stations. Sometimes you just have to make a decision and go with it because if you wait , it will be too late. As it turned out, Houston got spared but I would do the same thing again if the situation arose.

Regarding the mileage...... of the seven hours on the road, approximately five hours was stop and go traffic maybe getting up to 20 mph. The last two hours, I was able to go close to the speed limit. My average mpg for the trip was approximately 27. It was definitely peace of mind knowing that I had plenty of gasoline for this trip since there was very little availability along the highway.

[JasonATL]

utlonghorn - glad you got out safely and are okay. I agree wholeheartedly. It is far better for people to evacuate unnecessarily rather than to stay when they should have evacuated. Weather forecasting and storm track projections are fuzzy enough that taking steps to protect family is clearly the winning strategy.

[katzjamr]

ulonghorn: also glad you are safe. I am reading accounts if people going a distance of only 50 miles in 25 hours on the freeway the traffic was so bad. Many people did run out of gas in that ordeal as they crept along. The hybrids obviously fared much better in that situation even with the ICE running to keep the battery charged.

[patt]

The great mystery to me is why tens of thousands of people used the interstate highways to get out of town?? Why didn't they just drive north and west from Houston on the numerous uncrowded back country roads? Some reporters tried the back country roads and found it was easy to get away from Houston and Galveston. 

Another mystery to me is why didn't the tens of thousands of people follow the course of the hurricane on TV before deciding to leave Houston?  If they had done that they would have seen the hurricane was NOT directly headed for Houston and there was no urgent need to evacuate. They would have also seen the hurricane was weakening to a category 3 which is too weak to flatten houses and threaten alot of lives. 

Now it looks like some lives will be needlessly lost from flooding - again because people aren't monitoring the storm and realizing that the storm is going to stall out and dump 10-20 inches of rain over the area just east of Houston.

←

Yea, I guess you have alot of experience in this area out in Sacramento. Give me a break!!

←

Actually, someone from Sacramento should have some experience in how flooding can occur unexpectedly. While we don't get hurricanes, we get plenty of storms that don't go where they were predicted to - even when the prediction was just a few hours ago. Flooding often occurs unexpectedly due to a combination of the rain falling plus failure of the usual drainage path for the water. One April, I got caught in water that was a couple of feet deep in an area high enough that one wouldn't think it could flood. I guess it must have been a slight local dip and the storm sewers clogged. On my own street, I've seen the storm sewers back up so badly that they blew the manhole covers off and there was a fountain feet high above the flooded street. (Fortunately, our house is well above street level.)