ITS America 2007 Annual Meeting Session 41

1. ITS America 2007 Annual MeetingSession 41 Traffic Incident Management A Top-Down Vision Charles E. Wallace, Ph.D., P.E.

2. The Problem

3. Causes of Traffic Congestion At least 60% of the causes of congestion can be addressed through traffic management

4. 2005 National Statistics

5. So What Are We Doing About It? • National Traffic Incident Management Coalition’s National Unified Goal for Traffic Incident Management (TIM): • Responder safety • Safe, quick clearance (QC) • Prompt, reliable, interoperable communications

6. Quick Clearance Needs an Open Roads Philosophy

7. An Open Roads Philosophy After concern for personal safety and the safety and security of any incident victims, the top priority of responders, balanced with the need for accurate investigation, is to open the roadway by clearing vehicles, victims, and debris from the travel lanes to allow traffic to resume at the maximum possible capacity under the circumstances

8. Why An Open Roads Philosophy? • Is the basis for all TIM/QC polices and best practices • Joins transportation and public safety personnel together in a common cause to enhance safety and reduce incident delay and the chance of secondary crashes

9. Washington’s Joint Operations Policy “The WSP [Washington State Patrol] and WSDOT [Washington State DOT] will collaborate to respond to incidents and coordinate all public and private resources in this effort to work toward clearing incidents within 90 minutes.” (Emphasis added)

10. Enhanced service patrol/DOT incident response program 24/7 major incident response Interagency cooperation and agreements Reduced incident management liability Quick clearance policy Multi-agency training Program evaluation Legislative and administrative actions Incident management during construction Effective TIM/QC Program Elements

11. So How Does All This Come About? • Bottom up • Inter-agency cooperation • Partnering • Top down • Strategic planning • Policies • Laws

12. What a Few States and Regions Are Doing for a Top-down Approach • Florida’s Statewide TIM Strategic Plan • Metro Atlanta’s TIM Executive Vision • I-95 Corridor Coalition’s TIM/QDC Toolkit

13. Florida Statewide TIM Strategic Plan Exec. Summary Plan Overview Strategic Plan TIM Reference Document

14. Florida Statewide TIM Strategic Plan cont’d • Recommended changes in: • Laws • Policies • Procedures • Guidelines • Practices

15. Florida Statewide TIM Strategic Plan cont’d • Recommended legislative changes: • Create a cash incentive program for heavy wreckers on freeways • Create a common telecommunications system • Limit liability for all responders

16. Florida Statewide TIM Strategic Plan cont’d • Recommended policy changes (selected): • FDOT focus on operations in addition to building and maintenance • Include TIM explicitly in highway design and in security concerns • Include TIM in FDOT Work Program • Co-locate agencies in TMCs and make them “home” for TIM/QC • Transform Road Rangers from primarily motorist assist to TIM/QC and go statewide

17. FloridaStatewide TIM Strategic Plan cont’d • Recommended procedural changes: • Develop a statewide TIM Program Standard Operating Procedure for FDOT, TMCs, and Road Rangers • Champion a new Joint Operations Agreement with other responder partners

18. Florida Statewide TIM Strategic Plan cont’d • Recommended guideline changes: • Strengthen support for quick clearance of minor spills • Strengthen evacuation guidelines, including contraflow • Provide guidelines for more positive and rapid access to incident scenes by responders, including air medical evacuation

19. FloridaStatewide TIM Strategic Plan cont’d • Recommended TIM/QC practices: • Virtually all those best practices now in the I-95 Corridor Coalition Toolkit • Many best practices were initiated in Florida: • Local Open Roads Policies • MOUs with Medical Examiners allowing responders to remove deceased victims form the roadway • Rapid Incident Scene Clearance (RISC) incentive program

20. Metro Atlanta TIM Strategic Vision • Championed by Georgia DOT, Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA), and FHWA GA Division • Chaired by Commissioner of Transportation • Strong support fro Governor’s Office

21. Metro Atlanta TIM Strategic Vision cont’d • Top priority initiatives: • Initiate an Open Roads Policy • Create a cash incentive program for heavy towing and recovery • Develop a formal training and certification program for towing and recovery operators • Develop MOUs with Medical Examiners for responders to remove deceased • Form TIM Teams—up to 17 in the Metro Atlanta region

22. Metro Atlanta TIM Strategic Vision cont’d • Additional initiatives: • Develop responder safety and operational training • Adopt stricter abandoned vehicle policies • Develop better investigative techniques • Quick clean-up of motor vehicle fluid spills • Create a Legislative Policy Group to determine the best way of implementing TIM/QC best practices

23. Where Does the Vision Stand? • Open Roads Policy (ORP)—awaiting Governor’s signature • Towing incentive program—specificationsand procedures in development, expected roll-out late Fall 2007 • Training and certification program—in development, seeking funding • Medical Examiner MOU—rolled into the ORP • TIM Teams—five operational already

25. I-95 Corridor Coalition in TIM & QC • 47 Traffic Incident Management projects in 13 of the 14 years of the Coalition • Four projects directed explicitly at TIM/QC • National Cooperative Highway Research Program Synthesis Topic 33-05, "Safe and Quick Clearance of Traffic Incidents" (cooperative effort)

26. TIM/QC/Move-it—Overall Program • Program Phases • QC/MI Study—completed • QC/MI Executive Summary—completed • Development of TIM/QC Implementation Toolkit and Workshops—justcompleted, workshops in progress • TIM/QC Detailed Implementation Plan—starting

27. So, What is the QC Toolkit? The “Toolkit for Deploying TIM/QC Best Practices” is a collection of implementation mechanisms from operational best practices and administrative actions that can be undertaken by agencies acting alone and in partnership with others, to regulatory actions that require a more formal process (such as “rule making”), and statutory actions

28. Purpose of the Toolkit • Identify TIM/QC best policies and practices • Resource for … • Laws and policies • Guidelines and samples • Operational best practices

29. Toolkit Contents • Part I—Introduction and Purpose • Part II—Traffic Incident Management for Quick Clearance • Part III—Agency Responsibilities in TIM • Part IV—TIM/QC Self Assessment • Resources • References • Web resources • Fact Sheets • DVD

30. Next Steps • Executive Forum and Responder Workshops • What are we strong in? • What are the main gaps? • Implementation Plan • Specific needs to address corridor wide and by region • Direct technical assistance to Corridor regions

31. Conclusion • Top-level support—even championing—for aggressive TIM/QC Programs is essential • Go all the way to the top if possible • Use national resources: FHWA, National Traffic Incident Management Coalition, national first responder associations, etc. • Use large regional resources, like the I-95 Corridor Coalition

32. Parting Words The best planned and supported TIM/QC Program is only as good as the paper its written on if the field responders aren’t trained, dedicated, and committed to the cause!

33. Thank You Charles E. Wallace Area Manager Telvent Farradyne Charles.Wallace@telvent.abengoa.com