Overview
NHDOT faced a cluster of suicide incidents at the I-95 Piscataqua River Bridge in April and May 2025 —three within a two-week period, two of them fatal. Rather than waiting for capital retrofits, the agency used existing TSMO resources — closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras with object analytics, intelligent transportation systems (ITS) assets, and transportation management center (TMC) staff — to detect activity that may indicate a person in distress on the bridge and to speed notification to state police. TMC operators verify analytics alerts against live camera feeds and follow formalized work instructions to document and communicate each event. The approach improved early awareness of potentially life-threatening situations, reduced the time between detection and notification, and supported a successful law enforcement intervention following deployment. It offers a transferable, low-cost model for using transportation operations to contribute directly to life safety within established agency roles.
In this case study you will learn:
- How NHDOT integrated CCTV object analytics into daily TMC operations to detect and verify potential suicide-related activity on the bridge
- Why human verification and professional judgment remain essential when deploying automated analytics for time-critical, high-risk events
- How formalized TMC work instructions and interagency coordination with state police enabled rapid, consistent response using existing infrastructure and staff