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Emergency Transportation Operations

The Office of Operations welcomes you to the Emergency Transportation Operations (ETO) home page, featuring information on the ETO for Disasters, Traffic Planning for Special Events (PSE) and Traffic Incident Management (TIM) programs.

FHWA, through the ETO programs, provides tools, guidance, capacity building and good practices that aid local and State DOTs and their partners in their efforts to improve transportation network efficiency and public/responder safety when a non-recurring event either interrupts or overwhelms transportation operations. Non-recurring events may range from traffic incidents to traffic Planning for Special Event (PSE) to disaster or emergency transportation operations (Disaster ETO). Work in ETO program areas focuses on using highway operational tools to enhance mobility and motorist and responder safety. Partnerships in ETO program areas involve non-traditional transportation stakeholders since ETO programs involve transportation, public safety (fire, rescue, emergency medical service [EMS]), law enforcement) and emergency management communities. ETO, as a discipline, spans a full range of activities: from transportation-centric (fender benders) to those where transportation is a critical response component (e.g., hurricane evacuations).

The Emergency Transportation Operations Web site uses National Incident Management System or NIMS categories to functionally organize its content. The categories - listed on the left - provide specific information as it pertains to Disaster ETO, PSE and/or TIM. The table, below, illustrates how to use the functional areas to identify products or information relevant to one or more of the ETO programs. Items in the matrix are only representative of the materials to be found in that section:

Functional Areas to Identify Products or Information Relevant to One or More of the ETO Programs

NIMS Categories	Traffic Incident Management	Traffic Planning for Planned Special Events	Emergency Transportation Operations for Disasters
Command & Management	Traffic Management Centers & TIM ICS for Transportation Professionals	Managing Travel for Planned Special Events Handbook	TMC-EOC-Fusion Center Coordination
Preparedness	Capacity Building Service Patrol Handbook & Checklists	Tabletop Exercise Instructions For Planned Events and Unplanned Incidents/Emergencies	Routes to Effective Evacuation Primer Series Evacuation Workshop Findings ETO Workshop Findings
Resource Management	Safe, Quick Clearance Resource Management Primer	Planned Special Events: Checklists for Practitioners	Funding Sources for ETO programs (under development)
Communications & Information Management	Computer-Aided Dispatch-TMC Integration Pilot Study	Intelligent Transportation Systems for Planned Special Events: A Cross-Cutting Study	ATIS during Emergency Operations
Supporting Technologies	Dispatch Information Systems		Evacuation Modeling Inventory
Ongoing Program Management & Maintenance	Performance Metrics National Unified Goal Materials Focus State Initiative TIM Self-Assessment Reports & Maps	Managing Travel for Planned Special Events Handbook: Executive Summary	ETO Channel on the DHS' Lessons Learned Information Sharing (LLIS) system National Program Roadmaps

Though FHWA's three ETO programs have distinct characteristics, the interrelationships among these three are also very evident. From an institutional perspective, all three programs depend on good regional relationships and all three work with the same non-traditional transportation partners to ensure effective TIM, PSE and Disaster ETO operations in local and regional communities.

Comments and Suggestions

We welcome all comments and suggestions. Please address your comments and suggestions to ETO@dot.gov.