Overview
The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and North Carolina State Highway Patrol (NCSHP) joined together on strategic programs to support both organizations’ missions of providing safe roadways in the state. NCDOT operates and maintains nearly 80,000 miles of highway with the support of 1,600 NCSHP troopers enforcing state traffic laws, guiding traffic during hurricane evacuations, re-routing traffic around dangerous situations and protecting the motoring public. Collaboration efforts include:
- Since 2009, NCSHP and NCDOT have been coordinating resources and support for hundreds of high priority work zone projects.
- Initiated various practices to help keep traffic moving through high-profile construction areas and reduce secondary collisions
- Purchase of drones for NCSHP’s Collision Reconstruction unit to help clear incidents quicker
- Developed the Traffic Incident Management (TIM) training track to provide a realistic environment without the hazards of live traffic for NCDOT’s Incident Management Assistance Patrol (IMAP) responders
- Worked together on event control for the 2020 Republican National Convention
NCDOT and NCSHP combined resources, made equal investments, and have made significant improvements for the traveling public.
In this case study you will learn:
- How the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and North Carolina State Highway Patrol (NCSHP) joined together on strategic programs to support both organizations’ missions of providing safe roadways in the state
- How NCDOT and NCSHP jointly developed the Traffic Incident Management (TIM) training track to provide a realistic environment without the hazards of live traffic for responders
- How the collaboration helped provide better work zone management, shared resources fore traveler and incident management information and provided better traffic control support for large scale events
Background
The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and North Carolina State Highway Patrol (NCSHP) joined together on strategic programs to support both organizations’ missions of providing safe roadways in the state. During its early existence, circa 1941, the NCSHP was transferred from the NC Department of Revenue to the newly formed NCDOT; however, the two groups were separated in the mid-1970s when the Patrol was transferred to the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. NCDOT operates and maintains nearly 80,000 miles of highway with the support of 1,600 NCSHP troopers enforcing state traffic laws, guiding traffic during hurricane evacuations, re-routing traffic around dangerous situations and protecting the motoring public. NCSHP and NCDOT collaborate on many other joint initiatives to support North Carolina’s traveling public, including:
- Providing work zone management
- Sharing traveler and incident management information
- Providing training for first responders
- Joint traffic control support for large scale events
TSMO Planning, Strategies and Deployment
NCDOT and NCSHP have deployed several joint programs to strive towards safer roadways in North Carolina. Since 2009, NCSHP and NCDOT have been coordinating resources and support for hundreds of high priority work zone projects. This program allows for patrol shifts to be used to support speed enforcement or queue management in critical areas. Projects are selected based on prior crash history and historical speed data. Troopers are placed at the beginning of a work zone to slow motorists entering and are placed upstream to prevent back of queue collisions. Achievements of this program include:
- Providing an additional measure of safety for on-site construction workers.
- Reducing response times for incidents to aid with the return of normal traffic flow through the work zone.
- Reducing secondary crashes.
NCDOT has initiated various practices to help keep traffic moving through high-profile construction areas and reduce secondary collisions. NCDOT developed dedicated on-call tow contracts for high-profile construction projects, where a selected tow company is responsible and incentivized to respond and clear incidents quicker to get traffic back to its normal flow. Instead of towers being notified of incidents by Law Enforcement dispatchers, Law Enforcement agencies contact NCDOT’s TMC to dispatch the dedicated on-call tower. NCSHP also participates in NCDOT’s tow contract training. Law enforcement can request the towers to relocate vehicles out of the road or other dangerous locations.
NCDOT and NCSHP jointly developed the Traffic Incident Management (TIM) training track to provide a realistic environment without the hazards of live traffic for NCDOT’s Incident Management Assistance Patrol (IMAP) drivers training and NCSHP’s multi-discipline emergency responder training. The training track was constructed on land located within the larger loop of the NCSHP’s high-speed training track. The new TIM Training Track allows agencies to practice various incident work zone applications and vehicle maneuvers. NCSHP also donates out-of-use patrol vehicles for trainees to practice real-life tasks in the training track.
NCDOT helped purchase drones for NCSHP’s Collision Reconstruction unit to help clear incidents quicker. Using drones for crash investigations improves the time required to reopen roadways following a collision because it reduces the time required for data collection. NCDOT’s TMC is provided a live aerial view of the scene, to see the traffic conditions during an incident, which typically wouldn’t be available with CCTVs.
In August 2020, the Republican National Convention (RNC) was held in Charlotte, NC, where NCDOT’s Metrolina TMC is located which served as the base operation for NCDOT, NCSHP, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police, and the US Secret Service. NCSHP installed consoles and fiber circuit connections for communication support at no cost to NCDOT. This National Security event required additional IMAP support to maximize the flow of traffic and minimize delays to motorists. IMAP helped by coordinating quick clearance, providing traffic control, and securing ramps and access to interstates during VIP dignitary transports.
Communications Planning and Execution
NCDOT and NCSHP developed several Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) to provide written agreements for partnership activities. NCDOT and NCSHP developed the Quick Clearance MOU, which supports the removal of vehicles and hazards on state highways. The MOU allows for IMAP to immediately move wrecked or disabled vehicles off the roadway without concurrence from the investigating law enforcement officer when serious injury or death is not involved. This MOU is beneficial for NCDOT to clear the road faster, as well as allowing NCSHP to utilize NCDOT’s available resources. With support from NCSHP, NCGS 20-161(f) was amended to allow NCDOT to concur with law enforcement to remove vehicles determined to pose a hazard. NCSHP and NCDOT have agreed to allow IMAP to tag and/or remove a wrecked, disabled, or abandoned vehicle that poses a hazard to the public without further concurrence from NCSHP. This partnership allows these types of vehicles to be removed more quickly, thus, decreasing the opportunity of an incident occurring. IMAP has become a force multiplier for NCSHP. The agreement was expanded to include the I-77 Mobility Partners (MP), a contracting agent that maintains a 26-mile stretch of I-77 Express. With the assurance that NCDOT would train I-77 MP Drivers as the department trains its IMAP Drivers, NCSHP afforded I-77 MP the same authority mentioned above.
A 1995 Criminal Justice Information Network Report identified serious gaps in emergency response communication in the state, which led to NCSHP selecting Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders (VIPER) system as a statewide solution to address this most basic need for public safety response. NCSHP assigned a cache of VIPER IDs to NCDOT, and communication through use of VIPER was established in June 2014. Since that time, the number of NCDOT personnel operating on VIPER has increased to over 800 users. This direct line of communication is beneficial during day-to-day operations and critical events and disasters.
NCDOT is launching a pilot program with Waycare, a proactive traffic management solution, in hopes to improve traffic operations and reduce congestion and crashes. The platform will be deployed to IMAP drivers and NCSHP in an effort to improve incident detection and response.
Outcome, Benefit and Learnings
The partnership between NCDOT and NCSHP is essential in providing quality incident management services. With shared missions and a commitment to sharing resources, the synergy amongst these groups continues to grow. There are NCDOT and NCSHP entities collocated at NC’s National Guard Joint Force Headquarters, which has enhanced the collaboration between the two groups.
NCDOT strategically hired TIM Coordinators at the state and regional level to enhance communication between the two agencies. The TIM Coordinators work directly with SHP personnel in the field and at the senior command level. This effort has heightened the trust, relationship, and partnership between NCDOT and NCSHP. With the support of the TIM Coordinators, NCDOT and NCSHP have been able to bring understanding and resolutions to matters that often went unresolved.
From NCSHP providing law enforcement in work zones to prevent crashes, reduce secondary crashes, and improve the safety of construction workers, to NCDOT’s IMAP drivers assisting NCSHP with clearing the roads after an incident, both organizations are benefiting from the collaboration, and more importantly the public is benefiting. By the sharing of information from NCSHP’s CAD system directly to NCDOT’s traveler information website, the public is notified of these crashes sooner. Regardless of the agency in charge, NCDOT and NCSHP combined resources, made equal investments, and have made significant improvements for the traveling public.