After 9/11:Making Transportation Security a Way of Life
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) now has
a Security Department. The Washington State Department of Transportation
(WSDOT) is developing awareness training for employees to recognize
and respond to potential terrorist attacks. And bridge inspectors in
Maryland now regularly monitor high priority structures for any unusual
objects, suspicious activities, or other irregularities. For these and
other State highway agencies across the country, the events of September
11, 2001, and the subsequent threats to the Nation’s bridge and
tunnel infrastructure were a wake-up call that has produced lasting
changes in the way they do business.
“We’re
continuing to emphasize the eyes and ears approach,” says John
Conrad, Assistant Secretary for Engineering and Regional Operations
at WSDOT. Working with the American Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials’ (AASHTO) Task Force on Transportation
Security and the National Transit Institute, WSDOT is developing training
aimed at increasing employees’ attention to their surroundings.
The training will cover the Homeland Security Advisory System, identification
of likely infrastructure targets, simple surveillance techniques, and
how to respond to suspicious activities. Three variations of the training
are being devised for non-field employees; field employees (maintenance,
construction, and traffic); and vessel crews and terminal employees
of the States’ ferry system.
A
separate managers’ course will be presented for supervisors and
mid and senior level managers. The course will address information gathering
and analysis, hazard and risk
identification,
communications, and decision making. This course will also have three
variations for different types of employees. “We believe this overall
training program will have national applicability,” says Conrad.
The AASHTO Task Force on Transportation Security intends to expand the
Washington State effort into guidelines for all of the AASHTO member
States that address the training needs recently identified in a survey
of the States.
The
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has erected fencing
around bridges and other structures and has instituted a Bay Area Security
(BASE) system. BASE activities include installing surveillance cameras
that monitor acess points, piers, and other important structural points.
High elevation cameras look for traffic anomalies, such as vehicles
pulling off the road where they should not. Caltrans has also hired
consultants to perform vulnerability assessments on bridges and other
structures. “It’s hard to change 100 years of engineering
design in one fell swoop. Transportation security is an issue that’s
going to be with us for a long time,” says Randell Iwasaki, Deputy
Director of Maintenance and Traffic Operations at Caltrans.
In Virginia, VDOT’s Security Department has conducted
a Statewide inventory and assessment of infrastructure that is considered
most vulnerable to terrorism and sabotage. The Department is emphasizing
technology in its efforts to make infrastructure safer, including such
assets as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.
“We’re investing considerably in intrusion alarms, parimeter
penetration alarms, closed circuit cameras, and motion detectors,”
says Steve Mondul, Security and Anti-Terrorism Coordinator for VDOT
and a member of the AASHTO Task Force on Transportation Security. The
agency is also working with local transportation officials and technicians
to increase security efforts. “The technology to increase security
is expensive and time-consuming to implement, but it’s basically
simple,” says Mondul. “Putting procedures in place, changing
transportation culture, and making security a way of life is the real
challenge.” VDOT has been assisted by FHWA’s Virginia Division
office, with the two agencies cooperating closely on security initiatives.
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In nearby Maryland, the State Highway Administration and
Maryland Transportation Authority are also taking a hard look at their
security and emergency planning efforts. This assessment includes better
integrating their field operations with those of the police and other
agencies and working on improving radio and telephone communications
in emergency situations. Local and county police and other State agencies
are on different frequencies than the highway agencies, which made communicating
in real time difficult on September 11. The highway agencies are also
working to improve their verification of the accuracy and reliability
of information during emergency situations.
Such communication difficulties are also being addressed by the larger
Washington, DC, area. A partnership of public safety and transportation
agencies announced in August an endeavor to build a public safety data
communications network for the region. The network will allow officials
from more than 40 local and Federal agencies to communicate with each
other in real time during critical incidents.
In addition to the communications efforts, planning in
Washington, DC, has included mapping out 24 corridors in the city as
emergency event/evacuation routes. Signs identifying these routes are
now being installed, as well as dynamic message signs and security cameras.
During an emergency situation, traffic signals on evacuation routes
would be retimed to expedite traffic flow. “We also have ongoing
coordination, communication, planning, and understandings with other
regional agencies,” says Bill Rice of the District Department of
Transportation. These partnerships include working with VDOT, the Maryland
Department of Transportation, the Metropolitan Washington Council of
Governments, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and Federal
and law enforcement agencies.
To assist States in transportation security and emergency
planning, the AASHTO Task Force on Transportation Security has issued
two guidebooks: A Guide to Highway Vulnerability Assessment for
Critical Asset Identification and Protection and A Guide to
Updating Highway Emergency Plans for Terrorist Incidents. The guides
and other information can be found on the Task Force’s Web site
at security.transportation.org.
For more information, you can also visit the Transportation Research
Board’s Committee on Critical Transportation Infrastructure Protection
Web site (www4.trb.org/trb/
homepage.nsf/web/security).
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State Contacts
California Department of Transportation Randell Iwasaki, 510-286-5904
(email: randell_iwasaki@dot.ca.gov)
Maryland State Highway Administration Tom Hicks, 410-787-5815
(email: thicks@sha.state.md.us)
or Linda Singer, 410-787-5815 (email: lsinger@sha.state.md.us)
Virginia Department of Transportation Steve Mondul, 804-786-2978
(email: smondul@vdot.state.va.us)
Washington, DC, District Department of Transportation Bill Rice,
202-673-6813 (email: bill.rice@dc.gov)
Washington State Department of Transportation Terry Simmonds,
360-705-7857
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Articles in this issue:
After 9/11:Making Transportation Security a Way of Life
New Initiatives Launched To Increase Structure Security
Sustaining a Qualified Transportation Workforce
FHWA Teams Up To Ensure National Defense Mobility
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