The overall process for deploying a response plan is:
- First, an incident must be identified and characterized with information such as its location, severity, and anticipated clearance time. Most of the time this will likely be done by Caltrans TMC operators, as they monitor the corridor 24/7 or by the ICM system.
- This information will then be passed to the Decision Support System (DSS)
- The DSS and supporting rules engine will generate one or more response plans. Simulation models will then be used by the DSS to rank the possible response plans based on how much improvement each is likely to provide.
- Depending on the situation, the top response plan could then be automatically approved or reviewed by transportation management staff who could either implement, modify, or reject the response plan.
- The response plan will then be executed with the ICM system sending the response plan information to the various system components.
- The response plan components will then perform the required actio to implement the selected response plan. System components include on-and off-ramp signals, changable message signs, and traffic control signals.
This process will take approximately 10 minutes from start to finish. The following graphic illustrates the steps: