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FHWA Home / OIPD / Accelerating Innovation / Every Day Counts / EDC News: February 25, 2021

EDC News

February 25, 2021

Innovation of the Month:
NextGen TIM

Next-Generation Traffic Incident Management (NextGen TIM) focuses on working with State, local, and Tribal partners to improve TIM on all roadways. These entities are poised to take TIM to the next level by using innovative approaches that will continue to improve safety and travel reliability, saving lives, time, and money. In this month’s final article, we will provide an overview of the four technology areas that NextGen TIM will be promoting.

Computer-Aided Dispatch Integration

Public safety agencies like law enforcement use computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems to catalog and coordinate activities, which creates a rich source of real-time incident data. Timely sharing of this valuable information between public safety and transportation agencies improves coordination of resources to clear roadways, improve safety, and relieve congestion. Typically, sharing of information occurs with operating systems at transportation management centers (TMCs) and ranges from manual incident notifications to fully integrated data exchanges.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are remotely controlled by a pilot and can be flown over a traffic crash scene to capture images using high-definition cameras. The real power of UAS image processing lies in photogrammetry, where, using known measurements placed in the UAS photographs, computer software can produce the measurement between any two points in that photograph. The use of UAS for traffic crash investigations reduces responder time on-scene, accelerates investigations, and provides a cost-effective measuring and mapping alternative. NextGen TIM will also promote emerging applications of UAS for TIM including incident verification, response vehicle routing, queue detection and monitoring, secondary crash detection, and detour route monitoring.

Man operating a small unmanned aerial system
UAS takes flight to assist with traffic incident management (Source: Grady Carrick)

Video Sharing

A picture is worth a thousand words, especially in the TIM world where images from the scene help both responders and TMC operators. Video sharing technologies allow cameras mounted on service patrol vehicles to stream images from incident scenes to TMCs, and support applications that allow responders to view these images in the field. Sharing of video enhances the ability of both responders and TMC operators to evaluate incidents, plan their response, and identify the need for additional resources.

Computer screen showing pictures from four traffic cameras
Example of a Video Sharing Application from the Florida Department of Transportation (Source: FDOT)

Responder-to-Vehicle Alerts

Connected vehicle (CV) technology enable vehicles, “smart” roadway infrastructure, and smartphones to communicate and share vital transportation information through existing and emerging wireless communication technologies. NextGen TIM will focus on using CV technology to support responder-to-vehicle (R2V) alerts. When responder vehicles are stopped along roadways, approaching drivers can be warned via in-vehicle navigation providers who receive alerts from hardware or software that is integrated with responder vehicle emergency lighting. R2V alert technologies are quickly catching on as a way to improve safety by increasing advance warning of incidents and enhance advance warning, which supports adherence to “Move Over” laws and improves overall safety.

To learn more about NextGen TIM technologies and how they can benefit your agency, contact Paul Jodoin or James Austrich, EDC-6 team co-leads, watch the NextGen TIM innovation spotlight video, or visit the team’s EDC website.

Deadline Extended for Highway Construction Workforce Partnership Grant Applications

The deadline for applications for the Highway Construction Workforce Partnership (HCWP) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) has been extended to Tuesday, March 9, 2021. State transportation agencies are eligible for the HCWP grants with the intent that the HCWP will be a partnership effort with key highway and workforce system partners. Please contact your State Transportation Agency leadership and representative who is working on the grant application to advise them of the extension to March 9.

If you or your State transportation agency have questions about the HCWP or the NOFO, please contact Clark Martin, Center for Transportation Workforce Development Program Manager, or Karen Bobo, Center for Transportation Workforce Development Director. To see the full NOFO, please click here.

Discover Home-Grown Innovations from Around the Country

State and Local Premium Home Grown Quality Innovations

Are you interested in homegrown innovations being used by your peers in other parts of the country? Check out the National STIC Network Showcase, a component of the EDC-6 Virtual Summit. Over 200 innovations, submitted by State DOTs, Local Agencies, and other STIC members, are grouped into 8 topic area categories for easy navigation. This site features a convenient one-time registration that will allow you to continue accessing information throughout 2021.

Topics like Traffic Incident Management feature prominently in the Operations category. Learn about Washington State’s Work Zone Database, which gives real-time awareness of active work zones statewide; Frisco, TX’s SAFER program, which provides first responders critical incident information for situational awareness; and the New Jersey DOT’s Safety Service Patrol iCone technology program, which uses connected vehicle technology to alert the monitoring public to the presence of safety service patrol workers at incident sites.

Celebrate the ingenuity of your peers and read about these innovations—developed and deployed in-house at transportation agencies nationwide. Additionally, we invite you to watch the one-hour presentations on-demand that feature several of the highlighted innovations.

Screen capture of EDC Virtual Summit Lobby with graphical arrow pointing to the button that will access the National STIC Network Showcase. The arrow contains text stating, "Access Home-Grown Innovations Here."

About EDC

Every Day Counts, a State-based program of the Federal Highway Administration’s Center for Accelerating Innovation, works with State, local, and private sector partners to encourage the adoption of proven technologies and innovations to shorten and enhance project delivery.

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Page last modified on February 25, 2021
Federal Highway Administration | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE | Washington, DC 20590 | 202-366-4000