The major sources of non-recurring congestion are traffic incidents, construction and maintenance work zones, and weather events. These sources account for 50 to 60 percent of all traffic congestion in the United States. Traffic incidents (breakdowns, crashes, debris on the roadway, etc.) account for about half of non-recurring congestion or about 25 to 30 percent of all traffic congestion. Safety is also a major issue, not only for travelers impacted by an incident, but also especially for on-scene responders. Traffic related incidents are the leading cause of on-duty death among law enforcement officers and the second leading cause of on-duty death among fire and rescue and emergency medical personnel. The National Conference on Traffic Incident Management, held in Irvine, CA, in March 2002, resulted in a number of recommendations to improve traffic incident management practices in the United States. Many of these recommended initiatives imply a need for research to more clearly describe specific problems and issues and actions needed to address them.

The goal of the Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Pooled Fund Study (PFS) is to assemble regional, state, and local agencies and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to (1) identify issues that are common among agencies; (2) suggest projects and approaches for addressing identified issues; (3) select, initiate, and monitor projects intended to address identified issues; (4) provide guidance and recommendations and disseminate results; (5) provide leadership and coordinate with other regional and national organizations with TIM interests; (6) promote cooperative sharing of information rather than a series of independent initiatives to facilitate technology transfer related to TIM issues.

The initial scope of the Traffic Incident Management Pooled Funds Study is to conduct research projects totaling $1,000,000 over 4 years. The TIM PFS is intended to serve as a forum for the participants to identify and address the key issues and challenges that are common among public agencies. The forum will facilitate collaborative research, development, and deployment ventures comprising the interest of members associated with traffic incident management and coordination. The TIM PFS will focus on issues that arise associated with the program, policy, planning, operations, communications, and technology issues associated with TIM. The following are offered as broad topics or examples of issues that might be addressed within the intended scope of the TIM PFS: 1) Regional and Statewide Programs and Institutional Coordination · Formal Multi-agency programs guided by a Strategic Plan and coordinated through multi-year work plans · Multi-agency TIM Administrative Teams- Policies and Procedures for Program Management · Formal MOUs and High-Level Operations Policy Agreements · Performance Measurement and Evaluation · Facility, Corridor, and System Planning Issues and Techniques · Contracting and Procurement Practices and Issues · Marketing and Public Information Outreach 2) On-Scene Traffic Incident Management Operations · Responder and Motorist Safety · Traffic control at the scene and at the end of the traffic queue · MUTCD compliance · Resource Utilization and Staging · Response and Clearance Policies and Procedures · Incident Command · Fatal Crash Investigation · Hazmat · Quick Clearance · Towing and recovery · Service Patrols · Incidents in Work Zones · Procedures for Major Incidents - Major Incident Response Teams · Enforcement and Traffic Incident Management 3) Integrated Inter-agency Communications and Technologies · Integrated Interagency Communications - Voice, Data and Video · Transportation Management Systems in Traffic Incident Management · Incident Specific Traveler Information

The requested contribution is $25,000 per State, per fiscal year. The duration of the pooled fund study may be lengthened depending on participation and identified need.