The agencies are working to develop a shared Concept of Operations for incident response and congestion management, providing a comprehensive, detailed plan that will guide the technical build of the VCC. Monthly meetings strengthened connections between the partner agencies and led to the co-design of the VCC dashboard. Regional coordination comes with several challenges and requires achieving a combination of trust, self-organization and shared vision among a wide range of diverse regional agencies, and then empowering those agencies to jointly own and carry out that vision. Through their partnership with the University of Washington Mobility Innovation Center, Challenge Seattle has provided industry expertise, funding, and leadership to areas of the project that require employer participation and engagement. This effort has received considerable private sector support from Challenge Seattle, a regional alliance of CEOs that seeks to bring stakeholders together to think creatively, take action, and champion bold solutions. The data will be shared in a common dashboard that allows responders to see incidents as they happen, make more informed decisions, collaborate and coordinate response in real time and push out a unified public message. The cloud-based VCC will pull in real-time data from the multiple public agencies responsible for transportation management in the greater Seattle area. When complete, the system will enable real-time data sharing and coordinated response to quickly clear major roadway incidents and reduce related congestion. The design and development of the VCC is a regional effort coordinated by the University of Washington’s Center for Collaborative Systems for Security, Safety and Regional Resilience (CoSSaR). Over the last two years, these six agencies, joined by Sound Transit, have developed a shared vision of a common virtual work environment for regional mobility management called the Virtual Coordination Center (VCC). Motivated by the critical need to maintain regional mobility and safety, executives from the Washington State Department of Transportation, Washington State Patrol, Seattle Department of Transportation, Seattle Police, Seattle Fire, and King County Metro Transit signed a charter establishing the Seattle Area Joint Operations Group in 2017. Meanwhile, the public can be confused by out-of-date or conflicting information, leading to frustration and further congestion. As a result, agencies are often waiting for information before they can act and have little insight into each other’s decisions. Siloed information systems and legacy communication channels currently limit effective, coordinated response. Integrated corridor management is a complex, multi-agency responsibility involving state and local transportation agencies, transit providers and emergency responders. Responding agencies were unable to get drivers to delay their commute home, and Seattle area traffic ground to a halt almost immediately as the afternoon commute began. As a result, external communications also suffered. The crash highlighted that existing interagency communications protocols were not able to effectively manage a unified congestion management strategy for a complex incident like a tanker crash. One notable example is the February 2017 propane tanker crash that closed both directions of I-5 and I-90 in downtown Seattle for nearly eight hours causing regional gridlock. Seattle’s rapid growth, unique geography and limited north/south routes make this area highly susceptible to incident related congestion. Beyond new technology, strong partnerships are necessary for agencies to communicate amongst each other and develop joint plans to mitigate the impacts of rising roadway congestion - particularly during major roadway incidents. With a rapidly growing population, our transportation operators are seeking strategies to optimize existing roadways and systems. The Seattle area I-5 corridor is consistently ranked among the 10 worst North American traffic corridors for congestion. This article is a joint effort between the UW Mobility Innovation Center, CoSSaR and WSDOT
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