Points of Distribution Lanes, Types, Staff, and Footprint

ScopeCars drive past three loading points where water, ice, meals, and tarps go into the trunk, and one lane of that moves about 140 cars an hour. At one car per household of three and a twelve-hour day a lane serves about 5,000 people, which is exactly the USACE Type III rating; Type II is two lanes and Type I is four. The lane count is fixed by the population and the site count is a choice, so the calculator shows both the fewest-sites mix and the all-Type-III option. 48,000 people a day is 16,000 vehicles, or 1,333 an hour, which needs ceil(9.52) = 10 lanes. As the fewest sites that is 2 Type I and 1 Type II: 190 day staff, 26 night, and 325,000 sq ft (7.46 acres). As ten Type III sites it is the same 190 day staff but 40 at night and 450,000 sq ft (10.33 acres) -- 14 more people at night and nearly 3 more acres, in exchange for a distribution point within reach of more of the county. Staff are for the distribution operation itself (loaders, traffic control, a manager); security, medical, and public information staff are added by the site. Footprints are the USACE type dimensions: 150 x 300 ft, 250 x 300 ft, and 250 x 500 ft. A sizing aid from the USACE typing standard, which FEMA notes is widely used but is not a national standard. It does not select sites, design traffic control, or address accessibility, security, or lighting, and it does not plan resupply beyond the pairing with commodity truckloads. The local emergency management agency, the state, and FEMA govern.

Formula or tablevehicles per day = people / household size; vehicles per hour = vehicles per day / operating hours; lanes = ceil(vehicles per hour / 140); fewest sites = floor(lanes / 4) Type I, then a Type II for a remainder of 2 or 3 and a Type III for an odd remainder; staff and footprint summed by type (I 78/10, 250 x 500 ft; II 34/6, 250 x 300 ft; III 19/4, 150 x 300 ft).

Source and editionFEMA IS-26, Guide to Points of Distribution (2008), with the USACE Tier II POD typing (Type III 1 lane and 3 loading points, Type II 2 lanes and 6, Type I 4 lanes and 12; one vehicle per household of 3) and Missouri SEMA, Annex C, Points of Distribution (one lane with 3 loading points serves 140 cars per hour). The local emergency management agency governs.

Free accessPublic FEMA and state emergency management typing figures; division, rounding up, and a type mix.

What governsEstimate. AHJ and licensed professional govern.

API field namespeople_per_day, household_size, operating_hours, lane_rate_vph, vehicles_per_day, vehicles_per_hour, lanes_required, fewest_sites, fewest_staff_day, fewest_staff_night, fewest_footprint_sqft, fewest_footprint_acres, all_iii_sites, all_iii_staff_night, all_iii_footprint_sqft, all_iii_footprint_acres

• 140 vehicles per lane per hour one lane with three loading pointsMissouri SEMA Annex C; Ohio EMA POD Field Operations Guide
• One vehicle per household of three 12-hour distribution dayUSACE POD typing
• Type footprints Type III 150 x 300 ft, Type II 250 x 300 ft, Type I 250 x 500 ftUSACE POD typing