Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Improves Incident Response with Computer-Aided Dispatch

The Challenge

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission operates and maintains 546 miles of toll roads and associated assets across the state. With a large area to monitor, the agency’s legacy computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system only provided positional accuracy to a tenth of a mile, making it difficult for dispatchers to pinpoint the exact location of a call. The existing system could also not support ad hoc reporting, which restricted the agency’s ability to confirm and track incident trends.

To improve the granularity, accuracy, and efficiency of its incident response capabilities, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission needed an incident management and dispatch solution that could replace its outdated CAD software and make dispatching, response, and reporting easier.

The Solution

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission selected the industry-leading CAD system from Hexagon's Safety & Infrastructure division. With Hexagon's solution, operators have accurate locations on reported incidents, allowing them to identify and dispatch the nearest unit. They are able to link events to the location of calls made from emergency call boxes, which are automatically populated in the incident record. The technology also gives operators the ability to quickly identify nearby cameras and use the imagery to help define the incident, create situational awareness, and reduce response times.

Since traffic incidents are tracked in the CAD system, various internal departments can now analyze incidents using Hexagon's web-based remote CAD resource. This application allows the risk management department to track damage claims, incident response department track emergency service providers, and fare collection track fare evasions.

The Commission also selected Hexagon’s business intelligence solution, which gives it the ability to easily produce ad hoc and scheduled reports. With data collection and mining capabilities, departments across the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission are able to create strategies that improve road safety and streamline operations.