Guidelines for Quantifying Benefits of Traffic Incident Management Strategies (2022)

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1   Introduction A coordinated response to roadway crashes and other incidents is vital to protecting public and responder safety, keeping traffic moving, reducing adverse environmental impacts, and enhancing traffic operations’ efficiency. Traffic incident management (TIM) activities have advanced in recent years and are a critical part of transportation operations, as well as a signi­ ficant budget expenditure (Figure 1). Empirical measures and observations show that TIM improves incident detection, coordination, response, and clearance times while mitigating responder risk exposure, secondary incidents, and traffic delay. TIM also enables safer and more efficient operations for transportation, police, fire, emergency medical service (EMS), tow, and other responders, saving time, resources, and lives. Quantifying and monetizing the benefits from these improvements continue to challenge TIM organizations, in part due to the lack of uniformity in measurement, access to data, and clarity in analysis methods. Agencies are also challenged with how best to communicate benefits to promote adequate and sustained TIM program funding. Funding decision­makers want to see benefit­cost analysis (BCA) of TIM activities before making program investments, and a key input to the BCA is the estimate of monetized benefit. Decision­makers also want confidence in the methods to measure benefits delivered to the public with regard to reduced traffic congestion, environmental impact, secondary incidents, risk reduction to first responders, and operations efficiency. Some agencies must specifically demonstrate the value of TIM safety service patrols to battle the perception that TIM programs only benefit individual motorists. A webinar survey quantifying TIM program benefits found that less than 20% of agencies monetize TIM outcomes, and nearly 40% do not routinely collect data to quantify TIM value. Because TIM programs vary widely and may have different goals, this project highlights processes and tools applicable to varying levels of data availability, expertise, and resources. Identifying, quantifying, and monetizing TIM program outcomes as explained in this guide are important intermediate steps organizations can take to support a BCA or business case for TIM. Purpose A webinar survey conducted as a part of this project asked participants what methods their organization applied to quantify and monetize TIM outcomes. Survey results are presented in Figure 2. Over 35% of responses noted that TIM outcomes had not been quantified or monetized, while nearly 20% of responses noted the use of spreadsheet­ and parameter­driven analysis. Given the large number of organizations not having estimated TIM outcomes, this C H A P T E R 1 Demonstrating the Value of Traffic Incident Management

2 Guidelines for Quantifying Benefits of Traffic Incident Management Strategies guide focuses on straightforward, less data­intensive methods for estimating TIM benefits through example and offers direction and data requirements for more rigorous methods. This document provides guidelines for identifying, quantifying, and monetizing the benefits of TIM activities. The guide outlines why organizations must focus on TIM benefits, discusses the variables to consider when planning a TIM analysis, and offers a four­step process for conducting a benefit analysis based on the specific needs and capabilities of the organization engaging in TIM activities. This guide also presents common TIM terminology, assessment techniques, and information on selecting financial estimation parameters that will enable a TIM program to meaningfully quantify and monetize the value of its activities. Agencies are expected to select an analysis strategy that best reflects the goals, purpose, data, and resources driving the effort. In select­ ing analysis strategies, agencies should consider that, as their TIM program matures, greater data and resources may allow more robust analytics for better, more refined estimates of TIM benefits. Figure 1. Traffic incident management (image source: FHWA). Figure 2. Webinar response for methods applied to quantify TIM outcomes.

Demonstrating the Value of Trafc Incident Management 3   Who Should Use the Guide is guide is designed specically for sta responsible for dening and conducting the analysis for quantifying and monetizing TIM program benets. Transportation agency man- agers charged with the overall planning and implementation of TIM programs will also benet from understanding the benets analysis process. Others who might use this guide are sta from TIM partner organizations, FHWA sta, and researchers or consultants responsible for planning a TIM program or charged with assessing TIM programs. How This Guide Is Organized A webinar on industry needs for quantifying the outcomes of TIM found the most important topics in terms of desired guidelines are (1) methods for monetizing TIM outcomes and (2) understanding foundational TIM denitions and local interpretations. is document is organized by chapters that provide a quick and easy reference to dierent concepts and stages in the TIM benets analysis process. • Chapter 1 provides an overview of the benets analysis process. • Chapter 2 provides a summary of the language of TIM and local interpretations, beginning with nuances in the denition of incidents and the TIM timeline. is reference chapter highlights common TIM activities and outcomes and summarizes methodologies to quantify and monetize TIM outcomes. • Chapters 3 through 6 guide analysts through the four steps in the benets analysis process: Specify Analysis Purpose (Chapter 3), Plan the Analysis (Chapter 4), Perform the Analysis (Chapter 5), and Report Results (Chapter 6). In addition to the chapters describing the benets analysis process, four appendixes feature valuable information: • Appendix A provides common TIM rules of thumb that support quick estimation of benets and considerations for their use. • Appendix B presents a quick-sketch method to estimate the delay savings from TIM in the absence of any localized incident and trac demand data. • Appendix C presents available capacity ratios based on the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM, 2010), research conducted as a part of this study, and other research. is parameter is a key input to estimate delay from incidents on freeways, translating the number of lanes and lanes blocked by an incident to capacity loss. • Appendix D provides valuation parameters based on national or regional analyses to transform TIM outcomes such as delay savings to a monetary value. Overview of the Benets Analysis Process Four stages guide the general TIM benets analysis process, illustrated in Figure 3. Each stage contributes to the overall success of the undertaking. Figure 3. TIM benets analysis process.

4 Guidelines for Quantifying Benets of Trafc Incident Management Strategies e rst stage of benets analysis is to specify the purpose(s) of the analysis. e purpose of the analysis drives a number of factors specic to execution, such as the scope of data that may be reviewed, the types of tools to consider, or the strategy for conduct that mitigates risk and derives ndings that meet TIM program needs. is is accomplished by considering the following: • What are the goals of the analysis? • What are the questions to be answered by the analysis? • What decisions will be supported by analysis results, and what is the magnitude of impact of these decisions? • How quickly are results needed? • Which TIM activities, or parts of the TIM program, are being evaluated? • Will this be a one-time or recurring analysis? • What is the budget available to conduct an analysis? • Will analysis be conducted in-house or through contract support? e second stage of benets analysis is understanding how the analysis will be conducted to meet the intended purpose. Planning how to conduct the analysis helps manage costs, establishes schedules, and ensures ndings are meaningful and timely. e steps in planning the analysis occur in sequence but may be recursive (e.g., step 2 may adjust what was dened in step 1). If contractor support is solicited, planning the analysis typically will be a collaborative exercise between the agency and contractor support. is stage includes ve key steps: 1. Dene the geographic and temporal scope of interest. Geographic coverage denes which roadway facilities are to be evaluated. e temporal scope denes what months or years to evaluate and whether peak periods, 24/7, or other temporal sets are to be evaluated. 2. Identify available data by type, cleanliness, and levels of aggregation. Capture which data may need to be generalized and which may require estimates. What level of eort is required to clean or “prepare” data? Are data complete, or is there a plan for data sampling? 3. Dene an analysis approach and tools. Review the type of analyses and tools provided in this guide against items 1 to 3, scanning for data requirements, analytics expertise, and time duration for conduct. Examine any former assessments of the TIM activities, or assessments of TIM-related programs to ensure consistency in key parameters and models that drive benets estimates. Consider areas for transitioning from parameter assumptions to localized estimates, or from older localized estimates to more recent localized estimates. 4. Dene a schedule allocating levels of eort (sta) to key performance activities: – Data preparation activities. – Model calibration and parameter activities. – Model output aggregation and monetization activities. – Review and ne-tuning of results. – Communications activities. 5. Prepare a benets evaluation plan that documents items 1 to 4, as well as the analysis purpose outlined in step 1, and secure leadership support for the plan. With leadership buy-in for the analysis plan, execute as per the plan. Be sure to document the following to the extent feasible: • Lessons learned while executing. • Engineering judgment and assumptions applied. • Deviations required from cost, schedule, methods, and analysis perspective. • Opportunities for improvements to processes and data. In gathering data required for analysis, be sure to institute data cleaning and quality checks. If local, high-delity data prove to be a challenge to use or contain unforeseen omissions,

Demonstrating the Value of Trafc Incident Management 5   work with analysts and gain concurrence to apply estimates based on comparable systems and national estimates (rules of thumb, engineering judgment, peer experience). If estimating lifecycle benets, be sure to apply projections for factors such as demand growth, variations in rates of incidents, and percentage of truck trac. Review outcomes and ne-tune results, conrming that ndings make sense and deliver a sucient level of condence. e fourth stage is reporting ndings. It is important to document and report the work performed, processes, and ndings. Reporting refers not to a specic written product but rather the communication of ndings within the organization and to the broader suite of stakeholders and decision-makers. e following considerations may be helpful: • Document methodology and important assumptions, limitations, and constraints. • Archive benets and performance data for reproducibility and tracking benets over time. • Present results and ndings, employing visual and numeric techniques. • Communicate with clarity how ndings address the initial purpose of the analysis. • Tailor delivery media and complexity of information to match the intended audience.