Author

Dr. Hualiang (Harry) Teng
Polytechnic University
E-mail: hht4n@virginia.edu
Phone: (718) 260-3196

Description

Incident and emergency management is one of the areas that has received numerous benefits from applying ITS. Incidents contribute nearly 60 % of annual roadway congestion and thus should be detected, verified, responded to, and cleared as quickly as possible. The importance of Incident and Emergency Management is at the basis of this course, in which incident characteristics and impact, incident detection, emergency response, site management, and allocation of resources are discussed at length. The material presented is further illustrated by the case-studies of incident management programs around the country.

Objectives

Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:

• Discuss why incident management and emergency management are necessary
• List incident detection methods that can be used for freeway systems
• Identify some problems existing in the development of incident detection algorithms
• Discuss emergency response, site management, and incident clearance strategies
• Describe motorist information technologies

Audience

Public-sector Transportation Professionals including US DOT engineers, planners, project managers, and field staff, FTA Regional staff, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Specialists, and others as appropriate. Transportation professionals from state, regional, and local agencies would also benefit from participation in the course.

Length

Approximately eight hours.

Prerequisites

Students should have a basic familiarity with ITS, the ITS user services, the National ITS Architecture and advanced transportation management systems (ATMS) and surveillance technologies.

Course Outline

Numbers in parentheses refer to pages.

1. Overview (pp.1-22)
   1. Incident Characteristics and Impacts
   2. Incident Management Process
   3. Program Initiation
   4. Quiz on section 1
2. Incident Detection and Verification (23-53)
   1. Combined Detection and Verification Techniques
   2. Sequential Detection and Verification Techniques
   3. Quiz on section 2
3. Emergency Response (54-70)
   1. Resource Allocation
   2. Transportation
   3. Quiz on section 3
4. Site Management (71-91)
   1. Interagency Coordination
   2. Traffic Control
   3. Quiz on section 4
5. Incident Clearance (92-107)
   1. Accident Investigation
   2. Incident Removal
   3. Quiz on section 5
6. Motorist Information (108-123)
   1. Pre-Trip Information
   2. En-Route Information
   3. Quiz on section 6
7. Case Studies (124-132)
   1. CHART Program
   2. TRANSCOM
   3. I-95 Corridor Coalition
   4. TranStar
   5. COMPASS
   6. TransGuide
   7. Transport Management Center
8. Session Examination (133)