Traffic Incident Management Gap Analysis Primer

3. Components of a Successful Traffic Incident Management Program

3.1 Framework of a TIM Program

Chapter 10 of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Freeway Management and Operations Handbook is devoted to traffic incident management (TIM). It describes a TIM program as follows:

“A TIM program is a logical, structured, and integrated set of TIM activities tailored to a specific geographic area. It includes policies, strategies, and technologies integrated into a multiagency, multijurisdictional environment aimed at reducing the occurrence and impact of traffic incidents. To be successful, a TIM program must be ongoing and actively managed. The TIM program should be developed and managed in conjunction with the area's freeway management and operations program. The organization of the TIM program and the operational responsibilities of its participants should fit into the organization structure of the region, recognizing the existing assignment of TIM activities and addressing gaps and overlaps in those assignments.” [6]

In addition, the FHWA Traffic Incident Management Handbook points out that:

“Creating a formalized TIM program is an evolutionary process and it should not be presumed that success in each of the elements will be easily achieved. Many well established TIM programs, with 10 to 15 years’ experience, are still working to resolve key issues in attainment of the elements of a formal program.” [10]

In 2006, the National Traffic Incident Management Coalition (NTIMC) examined a number of TIM programs across the country and identified the following items as the building blocks of an institutional framework for implementing a successful TIM program [11]:

• Incident Management Policies and Plans.
• Interagency Relationships.
• Organizational Structure.
• TIM Programs.
• Staffing and Training.
• Performance Goals.
• Reporting Channels.
• Budget.

These quoted resources recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all to the structure, components and implementation of a TIM program. Rather, it must be customized to fit the capabilities and needs of the local deployment area.However, it can be said that all successful TIM programs consist of the following elements (Figure 9):

• Strategic Program Elements – that form a framework for TIM activities. These elements provide the multiagency planning, programming, and evaluation necessary to support efficient and collaborative on-scene operations; as well as how to plan, prepare for, and measure performance of the program. Strategic elements include items such as strategic plans, policies and training.
• Tactical Program Elements – that provide the tools and technologies for traffic management and interagency communications for on-scene operations. Tactical elements include items such as on-scene traffic control procedures, motorist assist patrols and pre-staged response equipment.
• Support Program Elements – that provide for the operational, tactical, and institutional support for effective communication and information exchange. Support elements include items such as communications systems, data and video collection and sharing, and traveler information.

Figure 9. Chart. Framework of a Successful TIM Program

Just as there is no one-size-fits-all TIM program, there is no one-size-fits-all way to describe the approach, structure and components of a comprehensive program. Numerous documents have been created over the years that take different approaches and include different components. In the current State of the national program, two documents stand out as commonly known and comprehensive approaches to describing TIM strategies and evaluating TIM program components and overall TIM program success. Those are:

• The National Unified Goal (NUG), developed by NTIMC, contains three overall objectives: responder safety; safe, quick clearance; and prompt, reliable interoperable communications. In order to achieve its objectives, the NUG outlines 18 strategies as discussed in Section 2.1.
• The Traffic Incident Management Self-Assessment (TIM SA) was developed by FHWA as a benchmarking tool for evaluating TIM program components and overall TIM program success. Through the TIM SA, State and local TIM program managers are able to assess progress and identify areas for improvement at State and local levels. The 2012 survey contained 34 questions under three categories: strategic, tactical, and support.

When the two approaches, NUG and TIM SA, are examined, it is clear there is significant overlap between the two, but also elements that are contained in one but not the other. Accordingly, for this analysis both resources were examined and components integrated while removing any duplication. In addition, certain emerging components have been added such as planning, budget, resource management, and cost recovery.

It should be noted that TIM participants may not be completely familiar with some of the emerging components. It is beyond the scope of this primer to provide details on these components. To learn more about these components, the FHWA TIM Publications website [12] has various resources that can be used to obtain further information and guidance on the different relevant subjects.

Sections 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5 contain itemized lists of the comprehensive components of a mature TIM program, categorized as strategic, tactical, or support, respectively. A fully consolidated checklist is included at the end of the chapter.

3.2 Key Stakeholders and TIM Partners

A key for the success of the TIM practice is the collaborative coordination between the multidisciplinary partners involved in the process. The level of involvement of the different partners in different TIM activities varies by the discipline as well as the nature of the TIM activity.

The FHWA Regional Incident Management Programs Implementation Guide stresses the importance of identifying and involving stakeholders as follows:

“Coordinating and managing responses to an incident by multiple agencies and jurisdictions requires a complex array of interagency relationships, and relationships between key incident management personnel at those agencies. These relationships form the basis for the institutional framework of an incident management program, and in most cases must exist before a formal framework can be undertaken.

The impact of major traffic incidents transcends political, jurisdictional, and geographical boundaries, and may affect entire regional road networks and hundreds of thousands of travelers. For those reasons, it is important to coordinate response regionally rather than just locally. Often, agencies across jurisdictions can share information about how to address specific incident management situations, allowing agencies to benefit from the experience of outside partner organizations.” [13]

The NTIMC’s “Example Strategies for Building Stronger State TIM Programs” also identifies this as a critical activity and states:

“Strong working partnerships among all responding disciplines and agencies are a basic underlying principle of effective TIM programs. NTIMC encourages partnerships that are formalized through written operational agreements, joint, written operational policies and procedures, and joint training exercises. Ideally, the partnerships include all TIM partners—which, at a minimum, would include transportation, law enforcement, fire, EMS, and towing and recovery. Additional partners that ideally would be involved include the trucking industry, traffic control industry, insurance industry, and emergency management agencies.” [11]

At the local/regional level there can be a significant number of stakeholders involved in TIM depending upon the incident type and severity as well as the institutional structure of the area operations environment. Some stakeholders will be routinely involved while others will be involved only when circumstances dictate their involvement. In addition, there are stakeholders who may not respond to an incident but collect and/or disseminate incident related information. Finally, users of the systems such as the traveling public are also stakeholders. Table 4 identifies the most common local stakeholders and the nature of their involvement.

Table 4 focuses on stakeholders that are more directly involved in incident response, information and transportation system use at the local/regional level. However, when TIM is looked at from a broader level, that is, from the national level to the local level, and when the full gamut of activities are considered, including elements such as planning and program support, the list of stakeholders and their roles grows significantly. Table 5 identifies key TIM stakeholders that are involved from this broader view, their prime responsibility under TIM and their role (primary or secondary) related to ten broad categories.

Table 4. Traffic Incident Management Stakeholders Roles and Descriptions [10]

Table 5. Key Stakeholder Roles and Responsibilities [1]
(Legend: P = Primary, S = Secondary)

3.3 TIM Program Strategic (Institutional) Capabilities

Strategic program elements form a framework for TIM activities. These elements provide the multiagency planning, programming, and evaluation necessary to support efficient and collaborative on-scene operations; as well as how to plan, prepare for, and measure performance of the program. Strategic elements include items such as strategic plans, policies, and training as well as budgeting and resource management. The following is a list of strategic components associated with a mature, comprehensive TIM program.

• Have a TIM multiagency team or task force that meets regularly to discuss and plan for TIM activities.
• Conduct multiagency training (held at least once a year) on TIM-specific topics such as:
  • National Incident Management System (NIMS)/Incident Command System (ICS) 100.
  • Training of mid-level managers from primary agencies on the NUG.
  • National Traffic Incident Management Responder Training Program (Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2)).
  • Traffic control.
  • Work zone safety.
  • Safe on-scene parking.
• Conduct multiagency post-incident debriefings that include elements such as:
  • A chronology of the event and response.
  • An assessment of what went right/wrong.
  • An identification of improvements needed and an action plan for implementation of such.
• Conduct planning for Planned Special Events (PSEs,) including:
  • Sporting events.
  • Concerts.
  • Festivals.
  • Conventions at permanent multi-use venues.
  • Public events at temporary venues such as parades, fireworks displays, marathons, bicycle races, sporting games.
• Conduct planning for Construction and Maintenance projects:
  • Typically this activity is part of the development of the Traffic Management Plan (TMP) for the project. All highway construction and maintenance projects that use federal aid highway funds are required to develop TMPs.
• Have multiagency agreements/memorandum of understanding (MOUs) including:
  • Agreements/MOUs signed by top officials from participating agencies.
  • Clearly defined incident scene roles and responsibilities for each participating agency.
  • Clearly defined agency roles and responsibilities for planning and funding the TIM program.
  • Safe, quick clearance goals stated as time goals for incident clearance (e.g., 90 minutes) in the agreement/MOU.
• Conduct planning to support the TIM activities across and among participating agencies including the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).
• Establish an institutionalized approach to TIM program leadership by having someone from at least one of the participating agencies responsible for coordinating the TIM program as their primary job function.
• Have multiagency agreements on the two performance measures (PM) being tracked:
  • Incident clearance time.
  • Roadway clearance time.
• Have established methods to collect and analyze the data necessary to measure performance in reduced roadway clearance time and reduced incident clearance time.
• Have targets (e.g., time goals) for performance of the two measures.
• Routinely review whether progress is made in achieving the targets.
• Track performance in reducing secondary incidents.
• Deploy effective and affordable TIM technology to support TIM activities including:
  • Incident detection.
  • Prompt and reliable responder notification.
• Have 24/7 availability of key responders and equipment.
• Develop and perform efficient and effective multiagency resource management based on the utilization of:
  • Appropriate personnel who are best qualified (i.e., capable but not over-qualified) for the various tasks.
  • Appropriate equipment by function (i.e., use of the least costly equipment capable of performing the function).
  • Appropriate technology capable of supporting various onsite resource tasks.
• Have a multiagency commitment and approach to the establishment of effective budgeting to provide stable funding for TIM within the processes and capabilities of the individual and/or collective agencies as appropriate to the activity.
• Education and awareness partnerships including driver training and awareness.

Figure 10. Photo. NYSDOT Bi-monthly TIM Steering Committee Meeting.
(Credit: VHB)

3.4 TIM Program Tactical (Technical/Operational) Capabilities

Tactical program elements provide the tools and technologies for traffic management and interagency communications for on-scene operations. Tactical elements include items such as on-scene traffic control procedures, motorist assist patrols and pre-staged response equipment. The following is a list of tactical components associated with a mature, comprehensive TIM program.

• Have “authority removal” laws allowing pre-designated responders to remove disabled or wrecked vehicles and spilled cargo:
  • “Authority removal” law in place.
  • Understood and utilized by responders.
• Have “driver removal” laws that require drivers involved in minor crashes (i.e., not involving injuries) to move vehicles out of the travel lanes:
  • “Driver removal” law in place.
  • Adequately communicated to motorists.
• Use a Safety Service Patrol (SSP) for incident and emergency response.
• Utilize multidisciplinary training such as the SHRP2 TIM National Training.
• Utilize the ICS on-scene.
• Have response equipment pre-staged for timely response.
• Identify and document resources to ensure that a list of towing and recovery operators (including operator capabilities and special equipment) is available for incident response and clearance.
• Identify and document resources to ensure that a list of hazardous materials (HazMat) contractors (including capabilities and equipment) is available for incident response.
• Give at least one responding agency the authority to override the decision to utilize the responsible party’s HazMat contractor and call in other resources.
• Have the medical examiner response clearly defined and understood for incidents involving fatalities.
• Have the electric utility companies’ role clearly defined for incidents involving downed electrical wires.
• Have procedures in place for expedited incident reconstruction/ investigation.
• Have a policy in place for removal of abandoned vehicles.
• Have “Move Over” laws that require drivers to slow down and if possible move over to the adjacent lane when approaching workers or responders and equipment in the roadway:
  • “Move Over” law in place.
  • Adequately communicated to drivers.
• Train all responders in traffic control following Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) guidelines.
• Routinely utilize transportation resources to conduct traffic control procedures for various levels of incidents in compliance with the MUTCD.
• Routinely utilize traffic control procedures for the end of the incident traffic queue.
• Have mutually understood equipment staging and emergency lighting procedures onsite to maximize traffic flow past an incident while providing responder safety:
  • Vehicle and equipment staging procedures.
  • Light-shedding procedures.
  • Personal Protective Equipment used by responders.
  • Pre-established, signed incident investigation sites.
• Have procedures in place for prompt responder notification.

Figure 11. Photo. Safe Zone for Incident Response Operations. [3]

3.5 TIM Program Support (Financial/Technological) Capabilities

Support program elements provide for the operational, tactical, and institutional support for effective communication and information exchange. Support elements include items such as communications systems, data and video collection and sharing, traveler information, and cost management and recovery. The following is a list of tactical components associated with a mature, comprehensive TIM program.

• Use a traffic management center (TMC)/traffic operations center (TOC) to coordinate incident detection, notification and response.
• Share data/video among agencies.
• Have specific policies and procedures for traffic management during incident response:
  • Signal timing changes.
  • Pre-planned detour and alternate routes identified and shared among agencies.
• Provide for interoperable, interagency communications onsite between incident responders.
• Have a real-time motorist information system providing incident specific information:
  • Traveler information delivered via 511/website.
  • Traveler information delivered via mobile applications.
  • Traveler information delivered through traffic/news media partnerships and access to TMC/TOC information.
• Provide motorists with travel time estimates for route segments.
• Develop and implement cost recovery and management systems including:
  • Costs recovery for the reimbursement for services from sources outside of the direct budget that funds the program seeking reimbursement.
  • Cost management includes efforts to maximize the cost-benefit relationship of program activities via a cyclical loop of cost planning, tracking, analysis, and evaluation and reprogramming.

Figure 12. Photo. NYSDOT Joint Traffic Management Center. (Credit: VHB)

3.6 Checklist for a Comprehensive, Mature TIM Program

Table 6, Table 7, and Table 8 provide a comprehensive checklist that integrates the strategic, tactical, and support components identified in the previous three subsections. They are provided in this format to allow TIM program managers and participants an easy way to print/extract the tables and use them to identify the elements of a comprehensive program as well as to benchmark their progress and identify gaps.

It is clear that many of the components listed contain multiple elements and/or relate to activities that can be implemented to a variety of degrees. For example, one TIM strategic component relates to the need to have multiagency MOUs. It is possible that MOUs exist for on-scene roles and responsibilities but not for performance measures. Similarly, MOUs may exist between some TIM responders but not others. As a result, the tables are constructed in a manner similar to the FHWA TIM SA in that users may not only track elements that are implemented, but also identify the degree to which they are implemented; Low, Medium, or High according to the following criteria:

• Low (L) – Little to no activity in this area; no discussions or some informal discussions with no or minimal action taken.
• Medium (M) – There is some or good level of activity in this area; has been put into practice with some multiagency agreement and cooperation and with fair to good results.
• High (H) – Activity in this area is outstanding; efforts in this area are well coordinated with a high level of cooperation among agencies.

Table 6. Traffic Incident Management Program Strategic (Institutional) Components

Table 7. Traffic Incident Management Program Tactical (Technical/Operational) Components

Table 8. Traffic Incident Management Program Support (Financial/Technological) Components