Traffic center keeps eyes, ears on the road

Within minutes of a Dec. 17 car fire, the Washington State Department of Transportation and state police had alerted morning commuters through a multitude of digital platforms:

7:09 a.m. — Car fire first reported.

7:13 a.m. — WSDOT sends email alert.

7:15 a.m. — Tweet from Washington State Patrol Trooper Will Finn: “Vancouver — WB SR 14 near Columbia House — fully engulfed car fire. Use -caution through area!”

7:16 a.m. — Tweet from WSDOT: “We’ve got a fully engulfed vehicle SR 14 WB near Blanford Dr. (milepost 1.9) Emerg. Responders on scene. Rt lane blocked. Expect delays.”

7:17 a.m. — Text message alert: “SWTMC:UDPATE: WB SR 14 MP 1.9, VEHICLE FIRE, RIGHT LANE BLOCKED. FULLY ENGULFED. WSP/FIRE ENRT.”

7:18 a.m. — WSDOT sends updated email alert.

7:24 a.m. — Tweet from -WSDOT: “Backups on SR 14 WB extending just west of Lieser Road. Expect delays if you’re heading that way or take alternate routes if you can. #VanWa”

7:35 a.m. — Text message alert: “SWTMC:UPDATE: WB SR 14 MP 1.9, VEHICLE FIRE, EXTINGUISHED. RIGHT LANE REMAINS BLOCKED FOR CLEANUP.”

7:45 a.m. — Text message alert: “SWTMC:FINAL: WB SR 14 MP 1.9, VEHICLE FIRE. ALL LANES OPEN. TOWN ON SCENE. BACK UP TO LIESER RD.”

7:46 a.m. — WSDOT sends final email alert; roadway cleared.

7:59 a.m. — Tweet from Finn: “Vancouver — WB SR14 — all lanes clear from earlier car fire! Just watched tow pull away with the burnt car!”

When a car fire erupted on state Highway 14 recently, the Traffic Management Center began buzzing immediately.

Washington State Department of Transportation dispatcher Dan Lee snapped the nearest traffic camera toward the incident. The image appeared on one of the two dozen screens on the wall in front of him.

Traffic, already heavy in the pre-dawn morning commute, started backing up. The car was engulfed in a glowing fireball as other vehicles crept by — some too close for comfort.

Email and text alerts went out within minutes. Another WSDOT employee in the room fired off a message on Twitter. Radios

chattered as highway crews and Washington State Patrol troopers responded on the ground. Another dispatcher described the location to an officer.

“You can’t miss it,” she said.

The Traffic Management Center is a joint operation shared by WSDOT and Washington State Patrol, housed in the Vancouver office building the two agencies also share as their regional headquarters. It’s the nerve center where dispatchers keep watch over state highways in seven counties across Southwest Washington, and where troopers coordinate their own resources in the region.

Often, those efforts overlap.

“Having us in the same room is awesome,” said WSP Trooper Will Finn. “Sometimes when it gets really hectic, you don’t have time to pick up that phone. … You can just stand up and shout, ‘Hey, we need you right here.'”

WSDOT dispatchers take one of two shifts: either 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., or 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Working a day shift means getting the morning and afternoon rush hours. Working nights, however, means “bar hour,” Lee said. That’s when collisions can be more of a problem, he said.

Day or night, the objective stays the same.

“Our mission is to keep traffic moving,” said Monique Czech, supervisor of the Traffic Management Center. “The goal is to get the information out from the roadways to whomever needs it.”

Lee and others have watched the profession change tremendously in recent years as digital technology and communication evolves. WSDOT has expanded its own network of cameras in the region to about 80, more than triple what it had less than a decade ago.

A steady trickle of email alerts, tweets and texts can make it difficult to unplug for those who frequent the dispatch center. Czech knew about the car fire before she came into the office that day.

“I was brushing my teeth, and my smartphone went off,” she said.

The roadway was cleared about 30 minutes after the first officer arrived. No one was injured, and traffic eased in short order. But it wasn’t the last major incident of the day.

Later in the morning, a tanker truck rolled and spilled liquid nitrogen on state Highway 97 near Highway 14. At one point, WSDOT closed Highway 97 in both directions south of Goldendale. It was another “all hands on deck” situation as crews worked with troopers to clear the highway while keeping people out of harm’s way, Finn said.

This was a significant disruption. But in rural settings with two-lane highways, even a minor incident can grow into a major problem, Lee said.

Most dispatchers see their share of action if they work long enough. Though WSDOT cameras never record anything, Lee said he’s caught the immediate aftermath of some terrible crashes on local highways. He’s also helped police pursue and catch a suspect at least once.

Czech described an instance in which she watched a man walk on foot across Interstate 5 with what she thought was a firearm. It wasn’t, but the man took his stroll elsewhere after an officer responded.

“You see all kinds of crazy stuff,” Czech said. “With 80 cameras, you’re going to see some goofy stuff on the roads. And sometimes it’s not pretty.”