ATMS08-Traffic Incident Management System (Service Package*)

The following discusses how the National ITS Architecture provides the transportation service described by this service package. Each numbered item describes the operation of that portion of the service package identified with the corresponding number on the transaction set diagram.

1. Incident information may be displayed on a map of the transportation network. The Traffic Management Subsystem and the Emergency Management Subsystem may use such maps to manage incidents. To keep the base map up to date, an update (map updates) can be acquired from a Map Update Provider. The update can be requested (map update request) when one is desired. Otherwise, the Map Update Provider could provide an update on a set schedule or as revisions warrant it.
   
   
2. An incident can be a planned event. Event promoters can notify the Traffic Management Subsystem and/or the Emergency Management Subsystem of planned events (event plans). The details of the events such as time, location and expected crowd size can be provided to assist in preparing the response. If desired, a confirmation (event confirmation) that the event plans were received can be sent.
   
   
3. The Traffic Management Subsystem can receive schedules of trains (railroad schedules) that have at-grade crossings so that street closures can be anticipated and travelers notified and/or response plans implemented. Additionally, the Traffic Management Subsystem can be notified by an Information Service Provider of routes to be taken by groups of vehicles, or special vehicles (logged vehicle routes) that might require specialized traffic control strategies.
   
   
4. Equipment on the Roadway is constantly monitoring traffic conditions (traffic characteristics) such as volume, speed, density, etc. and can be analyzing the data to detect incidents. The Traffic Management Subsystem can control (traffic sensor control) and monitor (traffic flow) the sensors in or along the roadway. Roadway equipment can be coordinated (roadway equipment coordination) through peer-to-peer, master-slave or other configurations. Examples of this coordination might be between field masters and traffic sensors. The Traffic Operations Personnel apply control as part of traffic operator inputs, and receive outputs as part of traffic operator data.
   
   
5. The Media may be monitoring traffic independently and may share information (external reports) including the identification of an incident with the Traffic Management Subsystem. Rail Operations may notify the Traffic Management Subsystem of railway-related incidents (railroad advisories) or notify the Emergency Management Subsystem of the same (incident information).
   
   
6. The Emergency Management Subsystem may need to view and/or control (remote surveillance control) surveillance cameras and other equipment during an incident. The Traffic Management Subsystem controls the surveillance equipment (video surveillance control) and may place limits on their control by other agencies. The Traffic Management Subsystem receives traffic images from the surveillance equipment. The images are passed to the Traffic Operations Personnel (as part of traffic operator data). The Traffic Management Subsystem can provide the Emergency Management Subsystem with information on the current traffic conditions (road network conditions) and video images of the traffic (traffic images) to aid in the response to and management of the incident. Road network conditions and traffic images is also provided to the Information Service Provider to support monitoring by traveler information service providers and their clients. The Traffic Operations Personnel apply control as part of traffic operator inputs, and receive outputs as part of traffic operator data.
   
   
7. Multiple Traffic Management Subsystems may share information (incident information, road network conditions and traffic images) including information on incidents and the response to them. The entire process is under the asynchronous monitoring (traffic operator data) and control (traffic operator inputs) of Traffic Operations Personnel.
   
   
8. When an incident is detected, the Traffic Management Subsystem, the Maintenance and Construction Management Subsystem and the Emergency Management Subsystem will notify (incident information) the other subsystems and keep them updated throughout an extended incident. The Emergency Management Subsystem also exchanges incident information with Rail Operations. The Emergency Management and Traffic Management Subsystems also share incident information with the Information Service Provider Subsystem and the Transit Management Subsystem. The Emergency Management and Traffic Management Subsystems provides the Media with incident information that has been reviewed for public distribution (traffic information for media).
   
   
9. Once an incident is detected and verified, incident response can begin. The incident response status is sent from the Emergency Management Subsystem to Traffic Management Subsystem, Maintenance and Construction Management Subsystem, Transit Management Subsystem, and Rail Operations. The Traffic Management Subsystem would also inform the Emergency Management Subsystem of its incident response status. In the case where the incident involves response by rail assets, then Rail Operations would inform Emergency Management Subsystem of its rail incident response status. The Emergency Management Subsystem may coordinate the response to incidents with Other Emergency Management (incident response coordination.) or may coordinate with Other Emergency Management the incident command assignment or status (incident command information coordination).
   
   
10. A key to incident response is providing information to emergency vehicles by the Emergency Management Subsystem. The Emergency Systems Operator initiates the providing of information (as part of emergency operations inputs ). The Emergency Management Subsystem sends decision support information to the Emergency Vehicle Subsystem, which might contain information about the incident, information on dispatched resources, and ancillary information such as road and weather conditions. The information is forwarded to the Emergency Personnel with emergency personnel information presentation. The Emergency Personnel provide incident and dispatch status to the Emergency Vehicle Subsystem (as part of emergency personnel inputs). This incident status is sent to the Emergency Management Subsystem, where it is forwarded to the Emergency Systems Operator (as part of emergency operations status).
    
    
11. Incident command posts may be set up at the scene of the incident to coordinate the overall incident response. The input of incident information and response status (described above) and the request for resources (described below) may be performed by Emergency Personnel on the scene. The architecture represents this as the interface between Emergency Management Subsystem and Emergency Personnel (incident command information presentation and incident command inputs).
    
    
12. The next 3 steps are focused on incident management at or near international border crossings. Here the Border Inspection Systems participate in incident coordination along with the Traffic Management Subsystem and Emergency Management Subsystem, representing departments of transportation and public safety agencies with jurisdictions at or near the border.
    
    
13. The Border Inspection Systems may view CCTV camera images (traffic images) that can be used to detect and verify traffic incidents at the border. The cameras may also be remotely controlled (remote surveillance control) with permission from the Traffic Management Subsystem.
    
    
14. When an incident is identified at the border, information about the incident (border incident information) is shared between the Border Inspection System, Traffic Management Subsystem, and Emergency Management Subsystem. As public safety responds to the incident, the Border Inspection System and Traffic Management Subsystem are apprised of current response status (border incident response status and incident response status).
    
    
15. To respond to an incident, the Emergency Management Subsystem may request resources (maint and constr resource request) such as cones, barricades, sand and help clearing roadway from the Maintenance and Construction Management Subsystem (MCMS). The request is initiated from the Emergency Systems Operator as part of emergency operations inputs. This request is presented to the Maintenance and Construction Center Personnel (maint and constr operations information presentation). With input from Maintenance and Construction Center Personnel (maint and constr center personnel inputs) and Other Maintenance and Construction (maint and constr resource coordination), a response to the resource request (maint and constr resource response) can be sent to the Emergency Management Subsystem. The response is presented to the Emergency Systems Operator as part of emergency operations status.
    
    
16. In responding to an incident, the Emergency Management Subsystem may need assistance (resource request) from the Traffic Management Subsystem. This may be a request for service such as verifying incident location, implementing special traffic control, etc. or a specific request for resources such as cones, barriers, a front loader, etc. This request goes to the Traffic Operations Personnel (traffic operator data). If required, the Traffic Management Subsystem may request resources from the Maintenance and Construction Management Subsystem (maint and constr resource request). This request is initiated by the Traffic Operations Personnel as part of traffic operator inputs. This request is presented to the Maintenance and Construction Center Personnel (maint and constr operations information presentation). With input from Maintenance and Construction Center Personnel (maint and constr center personnel inputs) and Other Maintenance and Construction (maint and constr resource coordination), a response to the resource request (maint and constr resource response) can be sent back to the Traffic Management Subsystem, where it is provided to the Traffic Operations Personnel as part of traffic operator data. The Traffic Operations Personnel initiates a response to the request with traffic operator inputs. The Traffic Management Subsystem may then respond (resource deployment status) to the Emergency Management Subsystem on when the service will be implemented or the requested resource will arrive on the scene. Resource request and resource deployment status are bi-directional since the Traffic Management Subsystem may also request resources from the Emergency Management Subsystem.