Best Practices in Traffic Incident Management
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U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration Office of Operations 21 st Century Operations Using 21 st Century Technologies BEST PRACTICES IN TRAFFIC INCIDENT MANAGEMENT SEPTEMBER 2010 Notice This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document. The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers' names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document. Quality Assurance Statement The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides high-quality information to serve Government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of its information. FHWA periodically reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement. Cover Image Acknowledgment Cover images courtesy of © Monkeybusinessimages, Dreamstime.com (left); © Hypedesk, Dreamstime.com (center); and © Rpernell, Dreamstime.com (right).... Technical Report Documentation Page 1. Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No. FHWA-HOP-10-050 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date BEST PRACTICES IN TRAFFIC INCIDENT MANAGEMENT September 2010 6. Performing Organization Code 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Report No. Jodi L. Carson, Ph.D., P.E. 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) Texas Transportation Institute The Texas A&M University System 11. Contract or Grant No. College Station, Texas 77843-3135 DTFH61-06-D-0007 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address 13. Type of Report and Period Covered Emergency Transportation Operations Technical Report Office of Transportation Operations 14. Sponsoring Agency Code Federal Highway Administration 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 15. Supplementary Notes Mr. Paul Jodoin (COTM), Ms. Kimberly Vasconez (COTM), and Mr. Barry Zimmer (COTR) Project performed under contract to Battelle for the Federal Highway Administration. 16. Abstract Traffic incident management (TIM) is a planned and coordinated program to detect and remove incidents and restore traffic capacity as safely and quickly as possible. Over time, various tools and strategies have been developed and implemented in an effort to improve overall TIM efforts. This report describes task- specific and cross-cutting issues or challenges commonly encountered by TIM responders in the performance of their duties, and novel and/or effective strategies for overcoming these issues and challenges (i.e., best practices). Task-specific challenges may include obtaining accurate information from motorists, accessing the scene, and condemning a spilled load. Cross-cutting challenges may include interagency coordination and communication, technology procurement and deployment, and performance measurement. The reported tools and strategies for improving TIM range from sophisticated, high-technology strategies to simple, procedural strategies. Information to support this investigation was obtained through (1) a review of published and electronic information sources and (2) input from TIM personnel in Arizona, California, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Washington representing law enforcement, fire and rescue, emergency medical services, transportation, and towing and recovery agencies. For many of the individual tools and strategies, a wide range of effectiveness was reported by locale, challenging the explicit identification of best practices and suggesting that local conditions related to the nature and extent of operation, maintenance, marketing, etc. have a significant impact on the perceived or measured success of specific TIM efforts. The National Traffic Incident Management Coalition (NTIMC), in cooperation with FHWA, provides a unique forum for not only disseminating the information presented here but also for standardizing practices to consistently maximize the effectiveness of TIM efforts. 17. Key Words 18. Distribution Statement Traffic incident management, best practices, No restrictions. detection and verification, traveler information, response, scene management, traffic control, quick clearance, training, communications, performance measurement 19. Security Classif. (of this report) 20. Security Classif.(of this page) 21. No. of Pages 22. Price Unclassified Unclassified 123 Form DOT F 1700.7 (8(8----72)72) Reproduction of completedcompleted page authorized Best Practices in Traffic Incident Management SI* (MODERN METRIC) CONVERSION FACTORS APPROXIMATE CONVERSIONS TO SI UNITS APPROXIMATE CONVERSIONS FROM SI UNITS SYMBOL WHEN YOU KNOKNOWWWW MULTIPLY BY TO FIND SYMBOL SYMBOL WHEN YOU KNOW MULTIPLY BY TO FIND SYMBOL LENGTH LENGTH in inches 25.4 millimeters mm mm millimeters 0.039 inches in ft feet 0.305 meters m m meters 3.28 feet ft yd yards 0.914 meters m m meters 1.09 yards yd mi miles 1.61 kilometers km km kilometers 0.621 miles mi AREA AREA square square in 2 square inches 645.2 mm 2 mm 2 0.0016 square inches in 2 millimeters millimeters ft 2 square feet 0.093 square meters m2 m2 square meters 10.764 square feet ft 2 yd 2 square yard 0.836 square meters m2 m2 square meters 1.195 square yards yd 2 ac acres 0.405 hectares ha ha hectares 2.47 acres ac square mi 2 square miles 2.59 km 2 km 2 square kilometers 0.386 square miles mi 2 kilometers VOLUME VOLUVOLUMEMEMEME fl oz fluid ounces 29.57 milliliters mL mL milliliters 0.034 fluid ounces fl oz gal gallons 3.785 liters L L liters 0.264 gallons gal ft 3 cubic feet 0.028 cubic meters m3 m3 cubic meters 35.314 cubic feet ft 3 yd 3 cubic yards 0.765 cubic meters m3 m3 cubic meters 1.307 cubic yards yd 3 NOTE: volumes greater than 1000 L shall be shown in m 3 NOTE: volumes greater than 1000 L shall be shown in m 3 MASS MASS oz ounces 28.35 grams g g grams 0.035 ounces oz lb pounds 0.454 kilograms kg kg kilograms 2.202 pounds lb short tons (2000 megagrams (or Mg (or megagrams (or short tons (2000 T 0.907 Mg (or "t") 1.103 T lb) "metric ton") "t") "metric ton") lb) TEMPERATURE (exact degrees) TEMPERATURE (exact degrees) 5 (F-32)/9 or oF Fahrenheit Celsius oC oC Celsius 1.8C+32 Fahrenheit oF (F-32)/1.8 ILLUMINATION ILLUMINATION fc foot-candles 10.76 lux lx lx lux 0.0929 foot-candles fc fl foot-Lamberts 3.426 candela/m 2 cd/m 2 cd/m 2 candela/m 2 0.2919 foot-Lamberts fl FORCE and PRESSURE or STRESS FORCE and PRESSURE or STRESS lbf poundforce 4.45 newtons N N newtons 0.225 poundforce lbf poundforce per poundforce per lbf/in 2 6.89 kilopascals kPa kPa kilopascals 0.145 lbf/in 2 square inch square inch *SI is the symbol for the International System of Units. Appropriate rounding should be made to comply with Section 4 of ASTM E380. (Revised March 2003) September 2010 ii Best Practices in Traffic Incident Management TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................ .................................................................................... ..............1111 Report Purpose and Contents ................................................................................................................1 Target Audience.......................................................................................................................................2 TASKTASK----SPECIFICSPECIFIC CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIESSTRATEGIES................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................ ........................................3. 333 Detection and Verification.......................................................................................................................3 Traveler Information................................................................................................................................7 Response .............................................................................................................................................. 10 Scene Management and Traffic Control ............................................................................................. 15 Quick Clearance and Recovery............................................................................................................ 24 CROSSCROSS----CUTTINGCUTTING CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES ................................................................................... ................................ ........................................................................................... .............. 3339 3999 Agency Relations .................................................................................................................................. 39 Training.................................................................................................................................................. 43 Communications..................................................................................................................................