Traffic: Annual Evacuation Drill Is Saturday In Mill Valley

MILL VALLEY, CA — Mill Valley is seeking volunteers for the 16th annual evacuation drill, to help the city prepare in case of a wildfire.

The evacuation drill is scheduled for Saturday, September 25. Cars will line up on East Blithedale Avenue at 8:30 a.m.

The city says Google is researching Mill Valley's evacuation plan, and the goal of this year's drill is to help evaluate that research. This year's drill will be timed.

"We are asking 250 people to line up their cars on East Blithedale to simulate the gridlock we expect during the peak of a mass evacuation," the city said on the website for the evacuation. "It does not matter whether this is your normal evacuation route. We will then time how fast we can clear the traffic by directing cars to a nearby fire safe space.

"Like when your local grocery store speeds things up by adding additional checkers during busy times, our evacuation planning includes utilizing large parking areas and open spaces like Bay Front Park to add safe temporary storage capacity to our road network. These are called “Community Refuge Areas” or CRAs.

"The goal is to increase overall evacuation speed and get people down from the canyons quicker."

The city says the drill should take no more than 90 minutes.

Outbound East Blithedale will be blocked between downtown and Camino Alto during the drill. The city says there will be road closures on Sycamore near Mill Valley Middle School, and traffic delays on Camino Alto between East Blithedale and Miller Avenue.

Visit the city website for more information or to volunteer.