Every summer, thousands of tourists flock to Long Beach, a barrier island off the coast of southern New Jersey just north of Atlantic City. Few of them probably stop to think how they would evacuate the island in the event of a disaster. They might be surprised to learn that Route 72 serves as the only emergency evacuation route out of the Long Beach Island resort community heading inland. With this in mind, BAE Systems worked with the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) on a low-altitude aerial mapping project that covered an eight-mile section of Route 72 in Ocean County, from Milepost 13.5 to 21.6. Preparedness, response, and evacuation are critical in any emergency situation, and the project aimed to help alleviate potential traffic problems in evacuating the island. Route 72 from Long Beach Island consists of four lanes dualized west to the Garden State Parkway, a major north-south highway, and two lanes continue west of the parkway. A major purpose of the project was to widen the shoulder on the north side of Route 72 to make it passable in emergency situations, lowering risk in case of an evacuation. The roadway was also generally inadequate to handle a large summer population.
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