Traffic Incident Management

District Four Roadway Clearance and Incident Clearance Times for 2009

62.6 Minutes
11% decrease from 2008

Rapid Incident Scene Clearance (RISC) Program

The purpose of the RISC Program is to expedite the safe clearance of major incidents from the highways using heavy duty, specialized equipment. This program is put in place in conjunction with Florida’s “Open Roads Policy,” which states that the roadways will be cleared as soon as possible with the goal of all agencies that incidents be cleared within 90 minutes of the arrival of the first responding officer.

The RISC program offers financial incentives to qualified companies to respond to and clear major incidents such as large vehicle crashes, rollovers, fires and cargo spills within a specified period of time.

RISC Activation Procedure:

• The TMC will notify the appropriate RISC contractor to mobilize and provide the details and estimated time of arrival to FHP.
  
• The RISC contractor will have one hour to arrive on scene with the required equipment. Once arrived on scene, if not needed, the RISC contractor will receive a flat rate service payment of $600.
  
• Once given a "notice to proceed" by the Trooper on scene, the RISC contractor will have 90 minutes to "open all travel lanes"
  
• The RISC contractor, in order to receive an Emergency Response and mobilization payment of $2,500, must have both; arrived within one hour and opened all travel lanes within 90 minutes.
  
• If the RISC Contractor is requested to mobilize and respond with "Additional Trucks and Heavy Equipment", the RISC contractor will be paid $600 if the equipment is not used, and $1000 if the equipment is used.
  
• If the RISC contractor fails to perform the recovery within 90 minutes, no performance payment will be issued.

Failure to clear a non-hazardous materials incident within 3-hours will result in a flat rate penalty of $600. An additional $600 will be assessed for each additional hour or $10 per minute ($600 per hour).

The State of Florida will recover costs associated with the RISC Program from the responsible parties’ insurance companies and intend the program to be financially self-sustaining by the end of the three-year contract period.

The District Four RISC contract was released in October 2008. It’s an “open contract,” which means towing companies can submit proposals at any time during the three-year contract period. Certification for the RISC Program requires the review of the towing contractors’ facilities, their commercial licenses, insurance, and other criteria. This inspection is designed to certify only those towing contractors capable of providing heavy duty recovery on interstate highways.

For additional information contact Guy Francese at the SMART SunGuide TMC.

FHWA Self Assessment Scores

In 2003, the Federal Highway Administration began a national study to determine the “state of the art” of Traffic Incident Management. The Traffic Incident Management Self Assessment is a tool to be used by state and regional program managers to assess their achievement of a successful multi-agency program to manage traffic incidents effectively and safely.

The results of the Self Assessment are also used to identify national TIM program initiatives by the FHWA. Compare our TIM Team scores against the national average.

For more information on the Self Assessment process, please go to the following link:

http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/eto_tim_pse/preparedness/tim/self.htm

National

• 2008 - 59.6%
• 2007 - 58.3%
• 2006 - 57.7%
• 2005 - 52.4%

Broward

• 2010 - 81.4%
• 2009 - 74.1%
• 2008 - 89.6%
• 2007 - 89.5%
• 2006 - 79.7%
• 2005 - 76.5%

Palm Beach

• 2010 - 60.1%
• 2009 - 72.4%
• 2008 - 80.5%
• 2007 - 80.0%
• 2006 - 72.9%

Treasure Coast

• 2010 - 38%
• 2009 - 32.8%
• 2008 - 33.2%

Reference Materials for TIM Agencies:

• Inter-Agency Video and Event Data Distribution System (iVEDDS)
• Intertraffic IM Demo
• Joint Operating Policy
• Local Open Road Agreement
• Manual Uniform Traffic Control Devices - Chap 6I
• Memorandum Of Understanding
• Incident Response Manual

• Open Roads Policy (.pdf)
• Rapid Incident Scene Clearance (RISC)
• Rapid Incident Scene Clearance Brochure
• Road Rangers Brochure
• Severe Incident Response Vehicle Brochure
• Spill Cleanup Guidelines (.pdf)
• Traffic Incident Management Brochure

Safety Issues for Incident Responders:

• FDOT Safety Vest Requirements
• Lightning Safety
• Low Visibility Risk Index
• Maintenance of Traffic (MOT) Tapers

• Situational Awareness
• Traffic Homicide and Crime Scene Procedures
• Use of Emergency-Vehicle Lighting

Reference Links:

• Division of Emergency Management
• FDOT Central Office
• FDOT D4 Construction Updates
• FDOT TIM (Main)
• Florida Dept. of Transportation
• Florida 511
• Southwest Florida Teams
• State of Florida

• Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
• I-95 Corridor Coalition
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• National Incident Management System (NIMS)
• National Traffic Incident Management Coalition (NTIMC)
• National Unified Goal (NUG)

• I-95 Express Lanes
• I-95 HOV Project (Palm Beach)
• I-595 Express Lanes
• I-75 Vision
• Alligator-Alley (I-75)

• National Fire Protection Association
• Professional Wrecker Operators of Florida
• Work Zone Safety
• State of Florida Towing Regulations