In January 2000, the Chattanooga Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency (RPA), the MPO for the Chattanooga region, formed an Incident Management Task Force to work on issues related to the management of vehicle crashes along area freeways. The Chattanooga region experiences three to four major crashes each week on the regional interstate highway system. Such incidents frequently cause lane closures and, sometimes, heavy traffic congestion. The major purpose of the Incident Management Task Force is to improve efficiencies in responding to highway crashes in order to minimize disruptions in traffic flow. More efficient incident management reduces the need for additional highway capacity to accommodate crash-related traffic congestion.
The Incident Management Task Force consists of representatives from government agencies and key stakeholders from the public. Task force members include representatives from police departments, emergency medical services, towing and recovery companies, fire departments, environmental agencies, hazardous spill and containment companies. Although each of these agencies has well-defined procedures for responding to highway incidents, it is not always clear how agencies and the public should best work together to clear crash scenes, provide information to travelers and deal with other highway emergencies. The Incident Management Task Force provides a forum for dialogue and information sharing to promote better cooperation among emergency services providers and public stakeholders.
Snapshot of Hamilton County, Tennessee
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In October 1999, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and the National Highway Institute sponsored a two-day seminar on highway incident management in Chattanooga. The workshop was attended by representatives from numerous agencies and emergency services providers that deal with highway incidents in the Chattanooga region, including local and state law enforcement agencies, fire departments, emergency response agencies, environmental protection agencies, towing and recovery companies, and engineering and planning organizations. Leaders of the workshop introduced participants to best practices and current research in highway incident management, emphasizing the value of interagency cooperation in the handling of highway emergencies.
During the next several months, the RPA contacted workshop participants to gauge their interest in forming a local incident management task force. Twelve individuals from various agencies and the public attended a kick-off meeting sponsored by the RPA in January 2000, and the Chattanooga Incident Management Task Force was born.
| IMTF Mission Statement
To develop effective communication among local and state agencies that have responsibilities in responding to highway incidents. Committed to a coordinated and cooperative response to highway incidents in an efficient and effective manner, the Task Force will strive to maintain safety of the motorist and the accident responder and preserve the economic and environmental welfare of the community. The Task Force will contribute its resources through the support of state and local programs, which assist stranded motorists, relieve highway congestion, and reduce the time to clear the blockage of traffic flow due to incidents. |
In recent years, there has been a growing appreciation on the part of transportation agencies of the value of effective traffic incident management. Incident management is important for two principal reasons: it reduces traffic congestion and improves highway safety. According to recent studies on urban mobility by the Texas Transportation Institute, between 50 and 60 percent of the nation's traffic congestion is due to crashes and other incidents. In addition, between 10 and 20 percent of highway incidents are caused by pre-existing incidents. Efforts to accelerate and better coordinate emergency response actions help restore normal traffic flow more quickly and reduce the likelihood of secondary incidents.
Most cities have some form of incident management activity. However, in most cases, response agencies focus principally on carrying out their own responsibilities with relatively little interagency cooperation or public dialogue. The failure to coordinate agency and public stakeholder responses and agree on a shared set of incident management goals reduces the effectiveness of any incident management program.
For example, police and fire departments sometimes have conflicts about which agency should have primary responsibility for handling incidents, where emergency vehicles should be placed, and who should collect driver or patient information. Due to the potential for interagency conflicts, confusion, or misunderstandings in responding to highway incidents, effective incident management requires strong and active partnerships among response agencies and public stakeholders (such as shippers, major employers, media and major tourist attractions). The best way to address potential problems before they begin to interfere with field operations is by fostering trust and open communication among response agencies. Interagency initiatives such as the Chattanooga Incident Management Task Force have been effective vehicles for developing strong and lasting partnerships.
| What is Incident Management?
The Federal Highway Administration defines incident management as "the systematic, planned, and coordinated use of human, institutional, mechanical, and technical resources to reduce the duration and impact of incidents, and improve the safety of motorists, crash victims, and incident responders. These resources are also used to increase the operating efficiency, safety, and mobility of the highway by systematically reducing the time to detect and verify an incident occurrence; implementing the appropriate response; and safely clearing the incident, while managing the affected flow until full capacity is restored." -- Federal Highway Administration, Traffic Incident Management Handbook (November 2000). |
The Chattanooga Incident Management Task Force first began meeting in the winter of 2000, one of the group's first activities was to prepare a mission statement. During the task force's first several sessions, open discussions were held to identify key issues that members of the group believed would be appropriate for the task force to address. The issues identified through this process were placed in five separate categories, which formed the basis for the creation of five work teams. These teams included:
The work teams, which meet independently of the task force's monthly meetings, are where much of the actual work of the task force is accomplished. For example, the Legal and Policy Issues team has begun drafting a city ordinance on recovery class vehicle requirements for towing and recovery companies. Another team has been identifying alternate routes for vehicles to use in the event of highway closures. The RPA is using this information to prepare Geographic Information Systems (GIS) maps that will better enable state highway officials to reroute traffic in emergency situations.
Typically 20 to 30 people attend task force meetings are. Meetings include progress reports on activities underway, reports from the five incident management teams, and highway construction updates for the Chattanooga region. The group also reviews video footage of major highway incidents taken by a representative from a local television station who participates on the task force. In a process similar to a football team reviewing the tapes of yesterday's game, the task force uses the videos to discuss how effectively the incidents were handled and where improvement is needed. This exercise has proven to be a particularly effective tool for fostering better communication among the various agencies involved in incident response in the Chattanooga region.
In addition to providing a forum for interagency dialogue and cooperation, the task force also conducts outreach. In November 2000, the task force sponsored a traffic incident management summit, which was attended by over 60 individuals from the Chattanooga region. Presentations given by state and local law enforcement agencies, fire departments, emergency medical services providers, TDOT, and other public and private sector participants focused on solving incident-related congestion problems. The summit, which took place at the Chattanooga Police Services Center, promoted awareness of plans and activities underway, including those of the task force, to keep local freeways running smoothly when accidents occur.
One of the main objectives of the Incident Management Task Force has been to clarify the roles of all agencies involved in incident response and to agree upon a set of incident response procedures. During the summer of 2000, the task force's Strategic Engineering/ Planning work team began drafting the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Highway Incident Plan. The plan, which is the result of months of discussions and deliberations among task force participants, identifies the primary and secondary duties of each agency that responds to highway incidents. The plan also includes a set of traffic and site management principles and procedures, which will ultimately serve as a handbook for incident response in the Chattanooga region.
The Incident Management Task Force also serves as a valuable complement to a highway incident management program operated by TDOT. Initiated in June 2000, TDOT's HELP program operates seven roving emergency response vehicles in the Chattanooga area that assist motorists in distress and respond to other highway incidents. From June 2000 through May 2001, HELP truck operators responded to 13,732 emergency calls. A representative from the HELP program sits on the Incident Management Task Force, which is hosted by the RPA, and efforts of the two initiatives are closely coordinated.
| Making a Difference
Early on the Incident Management Task is making its presence felt. According to Frank Horne, Highway Response Coordinator for the Tennessee Department of Transportation, many highway incidents that once took up to two hours to clear are now being cleared in half an hour or less. Horne attributes the quicker response time to better communication and coordination among the various agencies involved in incident response and a greater awareness by agency staff of the importance of restoring normal traffic flow as quickly as possible following accidents or other highway incidents. |
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County MPO sponsors the incident management task force; however, key government agencies and public stakeholders have set the task force's agenda. The early and active involvement of incident responders in the development of the program has helped reduce resistance to the program by traditional responders who may have otherwise felt threatened by the process.
Emergency response agencies are more likely to embrace a process that requires new ways of approaching problems to the extent that solid working relationships exist with other response agencies. The Incident Management Task Force has played a key role in developing the trust-based working relationships among agency staff that are necessary to advance a cooperative initiative such as this.
Newly formed task forces and other working groups typically experience a "honeymoon" period during which enthusiasm among participants is high, progress appears to be swift, and results positive. Now that some of the Incident Management Task Force's early initiatives, including the preparation of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Highway Incident Plan, are winding down, new projects must be identified that will continue to engage task force participants. If members of the group no longer feel they are benefiting from or contributing to the process in meaningful ways, they are unlikely to stay involved.
At present, the Incident Management Task Force's work is only beginning. Some agencies and the public stakeholders have been slower than others to change their approaches to incident response. Irregular meeting attendance by some members may be less reflective of their disinterest in the process than their commitments to too many activities. When people are overcommitted, new activities may fall by the wayside.
The Chattanooga Incident Management Task Force has made considerable progress in a relatively short period of time. Effective working relationships among response agencies and public stakeholders have been built and continue to strengthen. Agencies are approaching incident management in new ways that are having positive effects on traffic congestion and safety. Sustaining this momentum will require a combination of strong leadership, new projects and ideas, and a sustained commitment to the process on the part of the agencies involved.
ContactFederal Highway Administration, Traffic Incident Management Handbook (November 2000).
Chattanooga Incident Management Task Force, Chattanooga-Hamilton County Highway Incident Plan, Draft #1 (June 2001).