Mobile air traffic control equipment, technical personnel, trucks, buses, airplanes and ocean-going vessels are now in place to support the massive federal, state and local effort to prepare for Hurricane Rita,
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta announced late Thursday.
“We are working hand in hand with federal, state and local officials to make sure they have every available transportation asset in place to get people out, supplies in and key facilities back up and running in areas where Hurricane Rita is expected to make landfall,” Mineta said.
He noted that the U.S. Department of Transportation is taking the following steps to support Federal Emergency Management Agency and the states of Texas and Louisiana as they prepare for Hurricane Rita. The secretary noted that additional resources will be provided as requested by the states:

Trucks and Supplies
• Delivering one tanker of diesel fuel, six trucks of tarps, five trucks of plastic sheeting, two trailers filled with cots, one trailer filled with tents and one filled with sleeping bags to FEMA staging areas in Texas. These deliveries are in addition to supplies already provided to the region as part of the Hurricane Katrina response.
• Putting 10 trucks on standby at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio to move additional supplies as needed.
• Suspending rules limiting hours of service for truck drivers in the affected region so emergency and repair crews will be able to work as needed to support evacuation, recovery and repair operations.

Aircraft and Air Traffic Control
• Securing aircraft to evacuate Texas residents, as well as Hurricane Katrina evacuees, by air from Houston to Ft. Smith and from Corpus Christi and Beaumont to Smyrna, Tenn.
• Putting six MD-80 aircraft on standby in Baton Rouge, La. to support another airlift out of Louisiana if needed.
• Pre-positioning mobile communications and navigational equipment along with technical personnel in Austin, Texas, and Baton Rouge to deploy after the storm passes to restore basic air traffic control services.
• Maintaining a small staff at Houston aviation facilities to reactivate key equipment as soon as possible after the storm leaves the area.

Buses
• Providing more than 650 buses in response to requests from Texas and Louisiana officials to help to support evacuation efforts.
• Working with transit agencies across the country to identify additional buses that can be acquired and deployed to support evacuations in Texas and Louisiana as needed.

Trains and Equipment
• Working with railroad operators, the Association of American Railroads and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association to identify hazmat cars in Texas and Louisiana and evacuate cars as needed.
• Maintaining an expedited process for issuing waivers to allow rail operators to clear damaged equipment in order to resume operations after the Hurricane passes through the region.

Ports and Shipping
• Staging personnel with expertise in repairing port infrastructure in New Orleans to deploy as needed to support repair efforts.
• Maintaining 12 Ready Reserve Vessels in New Orleans (4); Port Sulphur, La. (1); Houston (2); Orange, Texas (3); and Beaumont (2) so they will be available to provide power, equipment and housing for workers in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita.
In addition, personnel from the Department of Transportation are working with state and local officials to assess transportation infrastructure in the regions likely to be affected by Hurricane Rita. These teams are beginning to develop plans to quickly repair and rebuild roads, bridges, ports, pipelines and airports should they be damaged by Hurricane Rita, Mineta said.