5.6 Coordination

Be Able to Activate Mutual Aid – “The Department must improve its ability to assess the needs of the rest of the city during major incidents and deploy necessary resources to meet those needs. Among other operational needs, the Department should have a formal, flexible procedure for recalling off-duty firefighters and for activating mutual aid from agencies in surrounding areas.”
Increasing (Fire Department of the City of New York) FDNY’s Preparedness
“Conduct a Collaborative Post-Incident Review – Following any kind of emergency, it is vital that the partner agencies that worked together to respond to the emergency find a way to review and evaluate their performance and cooperation during the emergency.”
Effects of Catastrophic Events on Transportation System Management and Operations—August 2003 Northeast Blackout—Great Lakes Region
Develop Better Coordination —“[Develop] better coordination between various evacuation agencies [such as transportation, law enforcement, and emergency management agencies] at the local, county, multi-county, and multi-state levels during an emergency.”
Reverse Lane Standards and ITS Strategies Southeast United States Hurricane Study: Technical Memorandum Number 1: Final Report
“Establish Emergency Procedures That Will Be Easy and Efficient to Implement – Some agencies reported encountering unexpected obstacles in the implementation of their emergency procedures, particularly obstacles centered on multi-agency coordination. Multi-agency response requires pre-planning that will establish clear chains of authority during emergencies.”
Effects of Catastrophic Events on Transportation System Management and Operations: August 2003 Northeast Blackout Great Lakes Region
“Establish Internal Coordination – Internal coordination is essential for all agencies, but especially for those with many different operating entities. For example, during the blackout, staff within the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s highway, transit, commuter rail, and airport divisions were in constant contact. Personnel had previously become familiar with each other through day-to-day operations and joint terrorism exercises.”
Effects of Catastrophic Events on Transportation System Management and Operations: August 2003 Northeast Blackout New York City
Provide a Coordinated Public Information Campaign – “The Mayor’s office coordinated press conferences, which included transportation updates. Agencies utilized radio, TV, and newspapers to relay information on the changing conditions. Highway advisory radio broadcasts by INformation FOR Motorists and other transportation agencies in the New York City area gave up-to-date traveler information, and news stations ran INformation FOR Motorists and Transportation Operations Coordinating Committee reports on the morning and afternoon news shows. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority reported 10 million hits on its Web site in one day, five times the normal volume, one day after September 11 as people tried to obtain up to date information on conditions.”
Effects of Catastrophic Events on Transportation System Management and Operations: Cross-Cutting Study
Realize Staff Need to Understand Their and Each Others Respective Roles – “Transportation agencies typically have staff at multiple locations with multitudes of varying responsibilities. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, for example, operates tunnels, bridges, transit lines, airports and water ports within the New York/New Jersey region. The California Department of Transportation oversees a state highway system of 25,000 kilometers in length and has a staff of over 23,000 employees with 12 district offices located throughout the state. It is important that each of the different parts of an agency understand the scope of an emergency involving transportation and the agency’s intended coordinated response.”
Effects of Catastrophic Events on Transportation System Management and Operations: Cross-Cutting Study
Understand That Lack of Communication Among Entities Can Be Counter-Productive – “Washington, DC had additional communication problems. There was no communication to Virginia Department of Transportation from agencies in DC, including the National Park Service and District of Columbia Division of Transportation, regarding transportation facility closures that affected traffic volumes into Virginia, although requests were made. This put Virginia Department of Transportation in a reactive mode.

As one example, there was no communication between the Virginia Department of Transportation center in Northern Virginia, responsible for traffic operations in the area, and Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the region’s transit provider. So in Northern Virginia, the local Smart Traffic Center reversed high occupancy vehicle lanes to facilitate movement of southbound traffic out of the District, thus preventing the use of these facilities as a route for Metrobuses to return to the District to pick up more transit-dependent travelers.”
Effects of Catastrophic Events on Transportation System Management and Operations: Cross-Cutting Study
Understand That Lack of Institutional Coordination Can Hinder the Process – “The lack of existing institutional coordination was evident in several cases in Washington, DC. These examples of poor emergency coordination might be the result of the lack of day-to-day coordination among the agencies. As an example, at 10:46 a.m. on September 11, the Metropolitan Police Department requested that Metrorail cease operations due to the uncertainty of events. But Metrorail officials declined the request and decided to continue operations to aid in the evacuation of people leaving the city.

At about the same time, both the Secret Service and the military were closing roads considered at risk, but the closures were not announced through any central coordinating agency like the Transportation Operations Coordinating Committee in New York. In addition, the failure to coordinate the release of federal workers, such as would occur during a weather related incident, resulted in an unanticipated rush of commuters just as the region’s transportation system was ending its morning peak rush service patterns.”
Effects of Catastrophic Events on Transportation System Management and Operations: Cross-Cutting Study
Understand Rumors Can Be a Problem – “Rumor control can be a real problem when trying to assure the public of the safety of facilities or the need to close certain facilities. This was certainly a problem across the country on September 11 as people were uncertain if there would be additional terrorist attacks. In Washington, DC, rumors of the closing of the Metrorail service kept many people out of the subway and instead on the street, which were congested by motorists trying to leave the city.”
Effects of Catastrophic Events on Transportation System Management and Operations: Cross-Cutting Study
Use Both Internal and External Coordination – “By their very nature, disasters require a coordinated response among multiple federal, state, regional, and local jurisdictions. This coordination needs to occur at several layers simultaneously: internal agency coordination and external coordination with other agencies as well as the public.”
Effects of Catastrophic Events on Transportation System Management and Operations: Cross-Cutting Study
Use “Technology to Enhance Institutional Coordination – Several agency representatives identified the lack of interoperability between the communication systems of different agencies as a major obstacle to inter-agency coordination during the blackout. Other interviewees discussed the importance of having pre-established modes and protocols of communication—telephone, fax, or Internet—for agencies to contact each other during emergencies, with particular attention paid to ensuring redundancy in the systems.”
Effects of Catastrophic Events on Transportation System Management and Operations: August 2003 Northeast Blackout Great Lakes Region

February 7, 2006
Publication #FHWA–HOP-08-015