Photos of cars on freeway, speeding sign

Freeway Management and Operations Handbook

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Description of Figure 10-2: Timeline of Stages in the Traffic Incident Management Process

This chart shows the relative timeline and sequence of the major stages that comprise traffic incident management:

  • At the far left, Detection is shown as the initial stage.
  • The Verification stage then begins and continues towards the right to the mid-point in the chart.
  • The Response, Clearance, and Site Management stages all begin after Verification has begun. Response ends just after Verification ends. Clearance continues to approximately the two-thirds point on the chart. Site Management continues to approximately the three-quarters point on the chart.
  • The Recovery stage is shown as the last, beginning just before the Clearance stage ends.
  • The Traffic Management / Motorist Information stage occurs throughout, from the beginning of Detection to the end of Recovery.