Overview
Sam Schwartz Engineering and TransSafe (the “consulting team”) engaged in a review of relevant standards on Traffic Incident Management (TIM) through manuals, presentations, and other materials produced by federal government sources along with documents from states and cities across the United States. An overarching theme found in the review was the consistency of TIM best practices. Many of the documents reviewed from local jurisdictions (state and city) contained language mirroring federal guidelines. This consistency is a positive sign that shows a general consensus on TIM procedures nationwide. Seattle would benefit from formally adopting (if not already done) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) TIM standards and, more importantly, implementing the processes recommended in those guidelines which are described in this best practices report.