2012 Annual Report - Virginia Department of Transportation

Safety Service Patrol
Assisting motorists quickly and safely - reducing delays and improving
travel in Hampton Roads.
In phase 2 of the SSP expansion the number
of routes patrolled increased from 8 to 12 and
the number of centerline miles covered
increased from 89 to 134!
The large increase in miles covered was
mostly due to the addition of the Croaker route.
The Croaker route is the longest route at 15
miles. It covers I-64 from exit 242 near
Williamsburg to exit 220, an area that has never
before been patrolled by the HRTOC SSP.
At the beginning of the second quarter 2012
SSPs began patrolling the new areas just once a
shift to become familiar with the routes. As the
SSP department grew in size so did the
frequency of patrolling the new routes. By the
end of the second quarter the department had
grown to 65 employees and the new routes were
fully patrolled. However, the average response
time had increased to 8.9 minutes. The average
response time was impacted by the new Croaker
route because of the distance the SSP may have
to travel after being dispatched to an incident
on the route as well as limited camera coverage
in some areas of the route.
When an incident is detected by a source
other than the SSP, control room operators
confirm the incident details, including location,
via CCTV and then dispatch a SSP to the scene.
In the areas with limited camera coverage the
operator dispatches a SSP to the scene based
only on the information provided by the
detection source, such as a motorist phone call.
This information can sometimes be inaccurate
and the SSP may have to drive around until they
can find the actual incident scene.
SSP Responses by Roadway
144
891
4,485
5,201
322
506
435
1,649
10,460
14,121
24,757
*Off Highway counts include responses on the Western Freeway
and between exits 220 & 227 on I-64 (VDOT Richmond District)
2011
2012
31,309
14
SSP Coverage areas
Pre-expansion
Phase 1
Phase 2
Western Freeway
#1 hot spot for
Crashes and
Total Incidents
#1 hot spot for
Disabled Vehicles
The final phase of the SSP expansion was the
addition of the Western Freeway route. The
completion of this phase during the third quarter
of 2012 brought the total number of routes
patrolled up to 13 and number of centerline
miles covered to 141. The average response time
remained constant from the second quarter until
after the Labor Day holiday weekend. In the last
few weeks of September and the remainder of
the year, after tourist season in Hampton Roads
had ended, average SSP response time dropped
to below 7.5 minutes.
The reduction in average response
time was a combination of a decrease in
the number of weekly average SSP
responses – from over 1,200 in June
through August to 1,055 in September
through December - and the SSP
department reaching it’s largest size to
date. As of the end of the third quarter,
the SSP department now consists of 66
SSPs, 6 Foreman, 1 Senior Foreman and 1
Department Supervisor, a total of 74
employees.
In 2012, the SSP responded to 53,677
events, an increase of 24%
over 2011.