A Virginia Department of Transportation program created nearly a decade ago has proven successful in quickly clearing crashes from state highways, especially along the 325 miles of I-81 within the state’s borders.
[Above photo by Virginia DOT]
The agency said in a statement that it created its Towing and Recovery Incentive Program or TRIP in 2017 to speed up the safe clearance of highway incidents involving commercial vehicles in designated areas – paying a monetary incentive to heavy-duty tow providers that open a travel lane within 90 minutes of the start of an incident.
The program also standardizes response procedures and improves on-scene coordination with Virginia DOT and first responders, the agency noted – helping reduce traffic congestion and lowering the risk of secondary crashes.
[Editor’s note: In a similar vein, the California Department of Transportation operates a team that tows disabled vehicles from some of the San Francisco Bay Area’s busiest bridges and tunnels.]
TRIP coverage areas include all of I-81 and I-77 in Virginia DOT’s Bristol, Salem, and Staunton districts as well as parts of I-95, I-85, and I-64 in the Richmond and Fredericksburg districts.
Virginia DOT noted that I-81 in particular is a “crucial backbone” in the state’s transportation network, moving massive amounts of freight and commuters and this summer marks five years since TRIP expanded to I-81, where the majority of traffic delays are caused by heavy truck incidents.
During that period on I-81, TRIP providers responded to over 2,000 incidents, averaging an arrival time of 34 minutes. They also averaged a 77-minute scene-clearance time, measured from the start of an incident to the time that all travel lanes reopen, which is roughly 40 minutes faster than the three-year period before TRIP, Virginia DOT said.
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