Incident Management

The incident management system is highly integrated with the traffic management system. The Smart Traffic Center provides all dispatching and two-way radio capability, highway advisory radio, collection of real-time data to detect incidents and CCTV's to verify incidents. Additionally, STC monitors the Virginia State Police CAD system for incident detection and are looking into automatic system integration with VSP CAD and Fairfax County (etc. local) CAD systems as the main means of automatic incident detection. A majority of the incident and emergency management functions are performed by VDOT STC. In addition to the STC, the NOVA Safety Service Patrol (SSP) assists and performs emergency functions, incident clearance, on-scene traffic management, and incident management data entry (shared real time between STC and SSP). The safety service patrol is responsible for identifying and responding to incidents that occur on VDOT's roadway system. The SSP also identifies incident locations, monitors the impact of incidents, verifies incidents, and share incident information with STC and other agencies, along with removing or assist in removing obstructions from the incident scene. The incident information sharing responsibility mainly resides with STC; however, SSP does share with other agencies' field staff (e.g. police and other DOT's patrollers) via CapWIN and phone calls. During incidents in which traffic is expected to spill onto arterial corridors, STC operators notify the signal operation staff to implement appropriate signal timing plans to facilitate different traffic volumes and patterns. Incident management is also a major function of the Virginia State Police (VSP), which is responsible for providing public safety in the state of Virginia by responding to incidents that occur on VDOT's roadway system. Incident notification is also exchanged with regional agencies like CapWIN, CapCOM, DC Public Safety and Emergency Management, DC DOT, MDSHA CHART, Toll Facilities, Event Promoters and Local Jurisdictions. Incident information is also provided to private ISPs, media, Statewide 511 services (through VDOT VOIS) and other traveler information outlets from the STC.

Service Packages

• PS02: Emergency Response
• TM08: Traffic Incident Management System

Stakeholders

• Virginia State Police

Roles and Responsibilities

• Provide CAD integration with regional traffic managemnet agencies and ISPs (such as VTTI clearinghouse for 511)
• Respond to incident reports on VDOT interstates and Dulles Greenway



• Maryland State Highway Administration (MDSHA)

Roles and Responsibilities

• Interface with VDOT NOVA and other transportation agencies to support coordinated emergency/incident response involving multiple agencies on the I-95 Corridor



• Eastern Transportation Coalition

Roles and Responsibilities

• Interface with VDOT NOVA and other transportation agencies to support coordinated emergency/incident response involving multiple agencies on the I-95 Corridor



• Private Sector ISPs

Roles and Responsibilities

• Provide incident information to travelers and potential travelers thorugh e-alerts, cellphones, websites etc
• Receive incident reports and status updates from traffic management and emergency management agencies in the region.



• Media

Roles and Responsibilities

• Provide incident notification to the general public



• Local Public Safety Agencies

Roles and Responsibilities

• Provide additoinal resources when requested by emergency/incident management responders
• Respond to incidents on city streets and arterials including assuming incident command at the scene



• Local Transit Agencies

Roles and Responsibilities

• Modify schedules if warranted due to incidents
• Provide schedule delay and incident information to travelers
• Provide transit incident information to traffic management and public safety agencies



• VDOT Northern District Operations

Roles and Responsibilities

• Propose and facilitate appropriate traffic management strategy to reduce traffic flow impact
• Provide resources when requested by emergency/incident management agencies
• Provide the capability to disseminate the information relating to the response status to other agencies
• Provide the Safety Service Patrol to respond to incidents and disabled vehicles on interstates.
• Share information on appropriate dissemination devices such as DMS and HAR
• Track incidents and responses



• DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management

Roles and Responsibilities

• Interface with other transportation agencies to support coordinated emergency/incident response involving multiple agencies in District of Columbia



• Local Traffic Agencies

Roles and Responsibilities

• Determine the expected traffic flow impact of each incident
• Propose and facilitate the appropriate control of traffic signals and other devices to reduce the traffic flow impact of an incident
• Provide status of all resources needed for incident resolution to those agencies responding to the incident



• Freight Rail Operators

Roles and Responsibilities

• Provide rail related incident information to emergency management and traffic management agencies



• Event Promoters

Roles and Responsibilities

• Notify traffic management and law enforcement of event information
• Work with traffic management and law enforcement on event plans and event related traffic control coordination



• Video Clearinghouses

Roles and Responsibilities

• Provide traffic images to verifiy and monitor incidents to law enforcement, and traffic management agencies



• Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)

Roles and Responsibilities

• Provide transit incident information to trafifc management, emergency management and ISPs
• Respond to incidents on the transit property