SE Michigan Regional Transportation Operations – Planning Committee March 29, 2016

Posted on Posted in ITS Michigan, Minutes

Review of 2016 Partnering Workshop

The City of Detroit Homeland Security hosted an incident management workshop on March 14, 2016 at Comerica Park. Topics for this workshop included the citywide evacation plan to be presented by Walter Davis and the traffic operations plan for the entertainment complex surrounding the new hockey arena presented by Rick Fenton.  The operations of the Macomb County Traffic Operations Center and Emergency Management and the role of the medical examiner in quick clearance were also be discussed.  A panel discussion of HAZMAT response included representatives from Troy Fire Department, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and Terra Contracting.  MDOT Region Engineer Tony Kratofil provided a presentation on Metro Detroit Regional Transportation Operations and Innovations.

 

The Michigan Department of Transportation provided a photographer for the event. Meeting registration is on the ITS Michigan website.  We planned for 150 attendees and served 140  .  Belinda Beard prepared name tags and table assignments on behalf of ITS Michigan.  Donna Northern from the City Detroit assisted her with registration on the day of the event.  This event was accompanied by an afternoon traffic incident management responder training session from 1 pm to 5 pm.  This second event served 19 attendees.

 

Chris Williams at SEMCOG is still tabulating the evaluation comments from the workshop, but committee members offered their observations on the workshop program:

 

  • More interaction among attendees should have been programmed.
  • Presentations were fine.
  • More structured networking should have been provided.
  • The vertical support in the club obscured the vision of visual aids for some in the audience.
  • The food was phenomenal
  • Attendees in the room should have been introduced in some way.
  • The Medicaal Examiner gave some find examples to illustrate his points and we wanted more.
  • The Quick Clearance of HAZMAT panel needed more examples to focus the discussion;
  • The 45 minutes allowed for some presentations was too long.
  • Networking breaks should have been programmed for 20 minutes.
  • To encourage more interaction, some table oriented activity should be organized.
  • It was difficult for speakers to gain audience attention during lunch.
  • A graphic showing how all the presentations related to each other would have been helpful.

 

Suggestions for a 2017 workshop were as follows:

 

  • Chose a specific Hazmat incident to discuss and highlight the roles of the different responders
  • Tell the story of an incident
  • Include EMS in the program
  • Discuss how to handle the personal emotions of responders
  • Consider outlining a response involving a helicopter evacuation
  • Include a John Corbin discussion of Nationnal Unified Goals
  • Discuss response to wrong way drivers
  • Show a speaker photo with bulleted bio before each presentation
  • Consider the Suburban Showplace as a workshop venue

Agenda for April 15 Coordinating Committee Meeting

 

The agenda for the April 15 Coordinatingn Committee meeting was discussed briefly. It will include a discussion of the Partnering Workshop, a Blueprint for future activities, and a discussion of traffic issues at the Detroit International Auto Show.  A copy of this agenda is attached to the minutes.

 

 

 

Priority Actions for Regional Partnering

Tony Kratofil’s presentation at the workshop suggested some future activities for the Coordinating Committee, adapted from the Capability Maturity Model Evauation outcomes.

 

  •  Develop TSM&O Business Case & Strategic Plan (regionally)
  • Leverage Arterial Traffic Management Committee to fully implement ICM operations and integration amongst partners
  • Leverage regional peers’ strengths and abilities to develop other regional peers’ operational capabilities (all ships rising together)
  • Expand utilization of performance measures to drive performance improvement (from reporting to analytics and forecasting)
  • Improve relationships to strengthen capital and maintenance work zone coordination

 

 

These actions should be considered as part of the Blueprint for Action discussion at the next Coordinating Committee meeting.

 

Next Planning Subcommittee Meeting

The next regular meeting for the Planning Subcommittee has been scheduled for 9 AM on June 16, 2016 at SEMTOC. These minutes are intended to be a summary of those items discussed. Any corrections and/or comments should be noted to the writer as soon as possible.