Assessing Coordination Between Agencies Involved in Traffic Incident Management - FY08 NATSRL
Principal Investigator:
Robert Feyen, Assistant Professor, UMD-Mechanical & Industrial Eng
Project Summary:
One role of any state?s department of transportation is managing adverse incidents that affect traffic flow within the interstate highway system under its purview. In most urban locations, management is accomplished through different agencies (e.g., police, fire, maintenance, and traffic operations), each with a stake in the overall traffic incident management (TIM) system. A literature survey indicates that, although prior studies have examined interagency coordination issues, relatively few have examined how the effectiveness of interagency efforts can be externally compared or internally assessed quantitatively. Further, numerous TIM systems in the United States report performance evaluation of interagency TIM activities as one area of activity for which little success has been attained. This research project takes a two-pronged approach in proposing a quantitative basis for comparison and performance assessment. The first is an external benchmarking study, providing potential baseline metrics and methodologies for interagency TIM activities for use in justifying and communicating the benefits of TIM systems both to the public and to officials whose decisions significantly affect TIM resources. Along these lines, existing data sources and surveys administered to TIM personnel in seven urban areas across the country with similarities to the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area have been used to document and compare the effectiveness of interagency coordination efforts. For the second prong, an internal analysis of interagency coordination will be conducted at the Minnesota Department of Transportation's (Mn/DOT) Regional Transportation Management Center, which oversees the Twin Cities metro highway system. In this prong, a review of communications during past incidents and in-person observations will be used to ascertain the current work procedures, information requirements, and knowledge sharing needed to coordinate efforts between various TIM stakeholders.
Sponsors:
- ITS Institute (RITA)
Project Details:
- Start date: 06/2007
- Project Status: Completed
- Research Area: Transportation Safety and Traffic Flow