Social worker Tom Witman vividly remembers his Hurricane Floyd evacuation, 16 hours from Charleston to Columbia in a van carrying 12 young psychiatric patients.

His regular brakes burned up, so he used the emergency brake in stop-and-go traffic on Interstate-26, which became a parking lot on Sept. 14 and 15, 1999. When nature called and there were no facilities, the patients wanted to head for the woods but threatened not to come back.

Their sedatives were designed to last four hours, twice the usual two-hour drive time. As the drugs wore off, the dozen teenagers started fighting, pausing only briefly at midnight to sing "Happy Birthday" to him.

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"It was horrible," said Witman. "The girls were acting out, screaming and shouting. There were cat fights ... These girls are pretty strong and unruly."

Witman hopes it will never happen again, and it might not, under a hurricane evacuation plan that S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford unveiled Tuesday.

The plan calls for lane reversals on four major highways leading inland from the coast, including Interstate 26 in the Charleston area, U.S. Highway 501 in Horry County and U.S. Highways 21 and 278 in Beaufort County.

"Are we better off with this than with the status quo?" asked Sanford. "We're better off."

People still won't be traveling to Columbia at 75 mph, and they still must plan to leave early, said Sanford, who recalled his being out of state while his wife embarked on a long evacuation from Charleston during Floyd.

"Will we be better off than during Floyd? Yes," he said.

Former Gov. Jim Hodges had instituted the Interstate 26 lane reversal from Interstate 526 in North Charleston to Interstate 77 in Columbia. A hurricane hasn't tested the plan, but a simulation 13 months ago was successful, said Highway Patrol Lt. Col. Harry Stubblefield, known as the state traffic czar.

Sanford's plan provides flexibility by giving evacuees more entrance and exit points to I-26's reversed lanes.

Drivers previously could get onto the reversible lanes only at I-526 but now can reach these lanes at Ashley Phosphate Road, U.S. 78 and College Park Road.

Until now, anyone who got on the reversible interstate couldn't get off until Columbia. Under Sanford's plan, all exits would be open except for the cloverleaves at Interstate 95, U.S. Highway 301, U.S. Highway 601 and U.S. Highway 17A in Summerville -- and that one might change after construction there is completed.

In addition, Mount Pleasant and West Ashley residents could use reversible lanes on I-526 to flow into I-26, a massive bottleneck during Floyd.

It took an estimated 24 to 25 hours to evacuate the coast during Floyd, but the I-26 reversals should shave about 10 hours off that clearance time, said Jon Boettcher, state hurricane planner with the S.C. Emergency Management Division.

The state's coastal population swells from about 864,000 residents to 1.2 million during summer tourist season, said Dick Jenkins, S.C. Department of Transportation assistant director of traffic engineering.

DOT also is adding more cameras to monitor evacuation and help officials make decisions. Signs will change to reflect real-time conditions, he said, and DOT will patrol I-26 corridors to help motorists in trouble.

Rest areas and weigh stations will have portable toilets, water, maps and information. "We'll make sure people get in and out safely," said Stubblefield.

On Tuesday, he showed computer models of traffic flow during Hurricane Floyd and under Sanford's plan: Cars reportedly moved at 35 mph as they merged from I-526 onto I-26, versus a five to 10-mile traffic backup during Floyd.

Models consistently show traffic flowing at 40 to 45 mph on I-26 with lanes reversed, he said.

Sanford's plan relies in large part on lane reversals. Most states from Texas to Virginia use reversals. Florida reverses seven highways, while Georgia and North Carolina reverse Interstates 16 and 40, respectively, Stubblefield said.

"It makes a lot of sense," said Elaine Simpson, who with her family evacuated their downtown Charleston home when Floyd threatened.

It took them eight hours to drive about eight miles, from Montagu Street downtown to Montague Avenue in North Charleston. From Cosgrove Avenue west, she turned off the motor and talked with other stranded motorists, including her son and daughter-in-law two cars ahead.

"We're probably safer in our houses than on the road," she said of their decision. So when they finally spotted the Montague exit, they got off and went home. They would try it again in the morning, she figured.

By morning, Floyd was forecast to spare Charleston, so the Simpsons stayed.

With Claudette swirling in the Gulf this week, she said Tuesday that she's been remembering Floyd and thinking about future storms.

"I need to know it will be easier to get out," she said.