The Hampton Roads Regional Concept for Transportation Operations-Traffic Incident Management (RCTO-TIM) Committee met on August 23, 2012 at the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization building in Chesapeake.  The RCTO-TIM Committee, which is led by Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), meets on a regular basis and is comprised of various stakeholders from the Virginia State Police (VSP), local police, fire and rescue agencies, traffic engineers and planners, HRTPO staff, as well as other operators and first responders.  The committee’s mission is to have Hampton Roads responders operate under a clear set of incident management practices allowing for enhanced response cooperation and decreased incident impact.
At the August meeting, VDOT presented the Hampton Roads RCTO-TIM Semi-Annual Performance Measure Report (January – June 2012).  Six objectives and targets that were established when the RCTO was created are discussed within the report:

• Objective 1 - Increase Responder Safety by Eliminating Struck-By Incidents and Fatalities

o    1 struck-by incident (Hampton Roads Transportation Operations Center Safety Service Patrol) and 0 fatalities (police, fire, EMS, SSP)

• Objective 2 - Decrease Incident Clearance Time

o    Average incident durations have fluctuated over the past year ranging from approximately 14 to 19 minutes.  Improvements to incident clearance times on the Peninsula have been the result of expanding Safety Service Patrol (SSP) at the Pine Chapel facility (Hampton) with coverage to the Richmond District line.  VDOT has also staggered SSP work shifts to ensure there is coverage during shift changes.  Incidents greater than 30 and 60 minutes were above average in June as a result of more tractor trailer incidents, which typically have longer durations. 

• Objective 3 - Decrease Secondary Incident Occurrences

o    Top 3 crash hot spots for 2012 (Jan-Mar) were:

1) I-64 Northampton – 264/64 Interchange

2) I-264 Newtown – 264/64 Interchange

3) I-264 Newtown - Witchduck

o    Top 3 crash hot spots for 2012 (Apr-Jun) were:

1) I-64 Northampton – 264/64 Interchange

2) I-64 Yorktown Rd – Rte 199

3) I-264 Newtown – Witchduck

o    A methodology is being developed by Dr. Khattak (ODU) to identify secondary incidents.  The Hampton Roads RCTO-TIM will continue to develop strategies to reduce primary incidents and incident durations, which will reduce the possibility of secondary incidents occurring.

The remaining objectives are qualitative measures that are ongoing and a work-in-progress:

• Objective 4 - Improve Inter-Agency Communication During Incidents
• Objective 5 - Identify Existing Regional Incident Management Resources and Establish Plan for Inter-Agency
• Objective 6 - Establish a Regional Incident Management Pro-Active and Post-Incident Review Consortium