Highlights from the AASHTO SSOM Meeting

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Subcommittee on Systems Operations and Management (SSOM) recently met in a joint meeting with the AASHTO Special Committee on Transportation Security (SCOTS) from September 17-20 in Orlando, Florida. By participating in roundtable discussion topics such as evacuation, emergency operations management and incident management, the committees had an opportunity to learn from the experiences of state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) from across the country and discuss solutions to common challenges. 

SSOM Committee Chair John Conrad, Washington State DOT, discussed the committee’s priorities as it strives to mainstream operations in 21st century DOTs. These priorities are reflected in the committee’s five task forces: Performance Measures, Technology Initiatives for Operations, Traffic Incident Management, Work Zones and ITS Standards and Deployment. A driving force within these groups is showing that operations needs to be a key component of running a DOT. Among the committee’s accomplishments this year are its incident management project, which is improving worker and responder safety, and its project for state-wide reporting systems.

Highlights from the joint general session included a presentation on the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which every DOT needs to be complaint with by October 1, 2006. A result of Department of Homeland Security Presidential Directives 5 and 8, NIMS was developed so that responders from different jurisdictions and disciplines can work together better to respond to natural disasters and emergencies, including acts of terrorism. Presenter Sonia Morphew, Minnesota DOT, offered helpful suggestions for DOTs working to train employees in NIMS while developing a strategy and timeline for full NIMS deployment. 

Lap Hoang, Florida DOT, discussed the evolution of Florida’s contraflow plans for hurricane and emergency evacuation by sharing some of the lessons learned from the Contraflow Workshop held earlier in the year. States represented in the workshop included Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. Some of the key elements agreed upon for effective contraflow were having a traffic plan, identifying evacuation zones, implementing public outreach, establishing a clear chain of command and using ITS information. Hoang noted that contraflow should not be used if you have a good evacuation route, and human behavior should never be underestimated when contraflow is implemented. 

Other highlights during the meeting included an industry issues roundtable discussion, led by Connie Sorrell, Virginia DOT. This discussion, new this year to the SSOM meeting agenda, provided a forum for industry representatives to bring up issues they wished to explore with SSOM members. The meeting also allowed time for each of the SSOM task forces to meet and hear presentations on topics such as the National Unified Goal for Traffic Incident Management and Statewide Incident Reporting Systems. Next year’s SSOM meeting will take place with the AASHTO Subcommittee on Maintenance in Madison Wisconsin on July 15-19, 2007.