Securing Homeland Security Strategies in Florida

Sifting through the complexity of homeland security strategies, as related to the transportation system infrastructure, is a challenge that many transportation officials are facing. Elements of a strategy for homeland security in Florida could include:

• Provision of early detection and emergency action to prevent terrorist activities;
• Identification and preparation of key targets, making them less vulnerable to terrorist attacks; and
• Provision of coordinated and rapid emergency response services to any successful terrorist attack to minimize the loss of life and property.

These elements equate to:

• Information gathering and assessment;
• Development of prevention measures to minimize the impact of any successful terrorist attack;
• Preparation and management of a rapid and effective emergency response in case these prevention measures are not successful; and
• Management of a post-terrorist attack recovery process.

Timely and effective fulfillment of these critical mission elements depends on the availability of a wide base of institutional agreements as well as putting an organization and system infrastructure in place that supports fulfillment of these critical homeland security strategy elements. These agreements and organization and system infrastructure usually require a significant investment in time, resources, and funding. The importance of Florida’s homeland security, the critical requirements needed to implement an effective homeland security strategy, and Florida’s current fiscal constraints, suggest that a successful homeland security strategy requires making the maximum use of agreements and organization and system infrastructure already put in place by FDOT and others.

FDOT has made a major investment in planning and deploying a “showcase” ITS program upon which the state can build, allowing rapid implementation of an effective homeland security strategy for deterring terrorist attacks and providing rapid emergency response in cases where deterrence fails.

Why is it Critical to Move Ahead With the Transportation Aspect of Homeland Security?
Together with the FDOT Districts, Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, Florida county and city transportation and traffic departments, and Florida’s toll authorities, the jurisdictions within the state have planned and implemented ITS infrastructures which are the envy of many other states in the United States. Florida is known as one of the visionary states in recognizing the benefits of ITS and taking appropriate action to plan and deploy supporting infrastructure and operations staff. Florida’s ITS infrastructure provides transportation corridor surveillance, incident management, traffic control, emergency management, transit, commercial vehicle operations, center-to-center communications, and traveler information for travelers both en route and in their homes or offices.

This ITS infrastructure is built upon a modular architecture supported by national standards and is easily expandable to accommodate new stakeholders/agencies and functions. Florida’s ITS infrastructure can be expanded to meet the functional needs of the previously mentioned homeland security strategy elements. Florida’s ITS infrastructure includes scaled systems and provides real-time information on the operational status of key transportation assets.

ITS already plays a major role in managing the movement of commercial goods, including hazardous materials (HAZMAT). ITS also provides support for enforcement of HAZMAT routes and is a key component of international port management as well as international border management. Additionally, ITS provide a major communications infrastructure, linking roadside sensors and vehicle/driver messaging devices with transportation management centers.

There are some critical reasons for Florida to move ahead with a homeland security strategy, including:

• ITS and associated transportation infrastructures are already highly developed in Florida, and encompass key attributes for rapidly advancing a homeland security strategy.
• ITS can readily support implementation of homeland security needs and, through Amber Alerts, have already demonstrated to the citizens of Florida that positive action is being taken.
• Due to the effectiveness of emergency evacuations during major hurricanes, the citizens of Florida understand the importance of the transportation infrastructure and its management.
• Florida’s transportation and law enforcement agencies have developed the strong communications needed to facilitate the efficient execution of transportation decisions and maximize success.
• The transportation infrastructure in Florida includes a considerable number of ITS investments for detection, management, and communications. The use of these ITS investments could greatly enhance homeland security strategy capabilities.
• Funding for both transportation and homeland security strategies in Florida is accessible from federal resources.

While ITS infrastructures can be a core element of homeland security, they can also be the target of a terrorist attack. The objective of a terrorist attack is to maximize the loss of American lives while inflicting severe economic damage. FDOT manages many key bridge infrastructures which are critical to tourism and commerce within the state. Monitoring and protecting these key bridge infrastructures provides a core ITS support to homeland security strategies.

Utilization of Florida’s ITS infrastructure for homeland security strategies can begin immediately with minimal effort. Properly planned, designed, and implemented enhancements and expansion of the state’s urban and rural ITS infrastructure can be effected in a timely manner to overlay the necessary command and control, communications, and sensor structure as well as the functionality needed for an effective homeland security strategy in Florida. These enhancements would support and benefit large-scale, disaster-level emergency management scenarios, such as hurricane and flood evacuations, major power outages, contagious disease outbreaks, and any terrorist attacks.

What Can be Done?
By design, Florida’s ITS infrastructure, communications backbone, and established institutional coordination channels provide a robust, statewide foundation directly supporting homeland security objectives. ITS are mature and operationally tested surface transportation initiatives supported by the US Department of Transportation, the Federal Communications Commission, the Department of Justice, and the US Congress. As pioneers in ITS deployments, the FDOT ITS Office and its partner agencies have significant ITS resources that continue to be expanded. These resources could be the foundation for a Homeland Security Strategic Plan in Florida. A typical Homeland Security Strategic Plan development process should include the following critical steps:

• Develop short- and long-term Vision goals and objectives;
• Perform an Inventory of Deployed Assets;
• Conduct a Key Targets Analysis, including Identification of Critical Links in the transportation infrastructure;
• Conduct a Targets Vulnerability Analysis identifying vulnerabilities and approaches (benefits/cost) to reduce vulnerability;
• Develop a comprehensive Homeland Security Plan;
• Develop a Workable Evacuation Plan considering weapons of mass destruction attack scenarios. This requires “out-of-the-box” thinking and planning;
• Develop a Survivability Plan;
• Develop Interoperability of communications, coordination, and system integration in relationship with ITS evolving to meet homeland security needs and requirements;
• Conduct statewide system Reliability and Interoperability Summits;
• Define Components Level tools and technologies that address the high priority homeland security and transportation needs;
• Define Institutional Framework and Implementation Requirements including establishing a Homeland Security Coordinating Council; and
• Develop an Implementation Plan (priorities, deployment specifics, schedule, cost, and funding plan).

Key Principles For Securing Transportation System Infrastructure Initiatives
There are eight key principles for securing transportation system infrastructure initiatives in Florida as follows:

• Be proactive and assume responsibility at the local level. Similar to the ITS strategic plans developed and updated during the past ten years, develop a plan. While at the national level, the Department of Homeland Security is trying to do its part, state, regional, and local levels should demand the same level of planning and analysis for the transportation elements of homeland security.
• Be strategic-minded and develop a long-range plan with specific short-term security elements. FDOT needs to set priorities and focus on the critical links in the transportation system infrastructure and its most vulnerable assets, such as tunnels, bridges, and major interchanges. Performing a comprehensive SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) and RM (Risk Management) analysis helps with strategic planning.
• Be systematic in developing a strategic plan. A systematic approach will show how all the elements fit as part of one system. Use truly coordinated and integrated systems. This means systematic decision making as well as utilizing a systems engineering approach to adapt the most fail-safe system to support the output process.
• Be expeditious in the procurement process. Homeland security can be implemented more rapidly by incorporating homeland security strategies into current and pending ITS projects.
• Consider a wide range of threats. Preparation must be made for terrorist attacks that may occur in multiple locations, incurring many casualties, widespread contaminations, and major challenges for first responders.
• Build upon the current ITS infrastructure. Building upon current ITS infrastructure is the quickest and least costly means of deploying an effective homeland security strategy.
• Consider the current emergency response plans, but revise them to meet the new threat of terrorism in our cities and neighborhoods. Response to a coordinated terrorist attack involves many variables. Emergency response plans must be dynamic, considering all of the variables in the “equation to effective emergency response.”
• Think beyond current institutional frameworks. The past decade may well be remembered as the era of institutional cooperation within the transportation communities. This decade must now build upon and expand institutional arrangements to include entities within the Department of Homeland Security as related to securing the transportation system infrastructure.

This article was provided by Habib Shamskhou and Bruce Abernethy, both with DKS Associates. For more information, please contact Mr. Shamskhou at (510) 763-2061 or email ITS@dksassociates.com, and Mr. Abernethy at (972) 735-8200 or email BCA@dksassociates.com.

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The Roar of the TIGER — Minnesota’s Traveler Information Guidance and Evacuation Routing Program

Continuing their tradition of nationwide leadership in ITS deployment, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) is embarking on an innovative Transportation Security Program. Planned as a multi-phase deployment over a two- to five-year period, this program is known as the Traveler Information Guidance and Evacuation Routing (TIGER) Program. The overall investments of this program are aimed at enhancing the security and reliability of the state’s surface transportation system by demonstrating and deploying a wide variety of traveler information and traffic operations functions.

Existing traveler information services throughout Minnesota will be expanded and enhanced to:

• Expand coverage to include information about local roads;
• Provide enhanced weather information to travelers; and
• Provide emergency response information including evacuation routes and conditions.

In the event that an emergency situation is detected on the state’s surface transportation system, the full range of applications in TIGER will provide integration, coordination, and dissemination of information. TIGER will demonstrate the benefits of integrating the data and operational functions of the surface transportation system.

Phase 1
In an effort to address concerns about safety and security, traffic congestion, and loss of mobility along the I-94 / TH 10 “Mega Corridor” between St. Cloud and the Twin Cities metropolitan area, TIGER will use an innovative ITS approach integrating transportation operations, management, and information resources spread throughout this area. While some traffic management/ITS strategies currently exist in the more suburban and urban areas of the Mega Corridor, there is no capability to operate these critical routes as integrated and interchangeable corridors. What makes this aspect of TIGER unique is that it will attempt to deploy an integrated program of ITS deployments over a rural, suburban, and urban area accounting for multi-modal facilities, including freight rail and multiple river crossings, commuter bus service, and future commuter rail.

Future Phases
Future phases of TIGER will include the design and deployment of:

• A mobile communications center to be used for emergency operations;
• Integration between Minnesota’s rural and metropolitan area traffic management and traveler information systems;
• Integration between the state’s highway patrol computer-aided dispatch system and the statewide traveler information system;
• Upgrades to the state’s Road Weather Information System for security applications;
• Communications link between the state’s emergency operations center and regional transportation management center.

This project is led by Mn/DOT and SRF Consulting Group, Inc., a local consulting firm specializing in transportation engineering services. Other project partners include the Minnesota Department of Safety, ADDCO, Inc., C3 Trans Systems, Castle Rock Consultants, EDC Solutions, Image Sensing Systems, Inc., International Idea Institute, Lockheed Martin Corporation, and Saturn Systems, Inc.

This article was provided by Brian Scott, SRF Consulting Group, Inc. (SRF). For more information, please contact Mr. Scott at (736) 475-0010 or email BScott@srfconsulting.com.

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Critical Infrastructure Protection

Protection of our transportation infrastructure requires a multifaceted analytical approach that addresses organizational and asset design. The best solution to mitigate the impact of a threat is to provide a layered approach that encompasses organizational response to a threat as well as countermeasures deployment.

To understand the potential impacts of threats requires that an organization undertake a vulnerability assessment of critical transportation infrastructure. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has prepared a template for conducting this assessment in a report entitled A Guide to Highway Vulnerability Assessments for Critical Asset Identification and Protection. This report may be viewed at: www.dot.state.fl.us/IntelligentTransportation Systems/Online Documents/OnlineDocuments.htm.

This article outlines steps to reduce risk where risk is a function of asset criticality and vulnerability.

Risk = F (Criticality, Vulnerability)

Criticality is measured by the value of the asset in terms of its importance in fulfilling agency mission, goals, and objectives. Vulnerability is measured by the likelihood of a threat and the relative opportunity to mitigate that threat through effective countermeasures implementation.

The objective of a risk mitigation strategy is to reduce criticality and vulnerability to the greatest extent possible given organizational resource constraints.

Elements of asset criticality can be quantified in terms of:

• Loss or Damage Consequence;
  • Casualty Exposure
  • Environmental Risk
  • Replacement Cost or Downtime Risk
• Consequence of Public Services; and
  • Government Continuity
  • Military Importance
  • Emergency Response Function Support
• Consequence to Public.
  • Availability of Alternative — Redundancy
  • Communications Dependency
  • Economic Impact
  • Functional and/or Symbolic Importance

Elements of asset vulnerability can be quantified in terms of:

• Visibility and Attendance;
  • Level of Recognition
  • Attendance/Users
• Accessibility; and
  • Access Proximity
  • Security Level
• Site Specific Hazards.
  • Receptor Impacts
  • Volume

Critical Infrastructure Protection / Countermeasures
Transportation agencies have several opportunities to reduce risk through operational programs and the engineering of effective countermeasures and programs. Implementation of countermeasures ranges from the development of desktop exercises and low-tech operational improvements to the implementation of sophisticated systems that enable advanced communications and surveillance.

Examples of recent countermeasures initiatives provide insight regarding the role of technology as an enabler of infrastructure protection and how information systems and communications are evolving to meet the needs of emergency management.

New York State Bridge Authority
Implemented ITS technologies on its bridges across the Hudson River. The Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, carrying I-84, demonstrates a layer approach to reducing both criticality and vulnerability.

United States Department of Transportation, Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation
Implemented ITS and electronic toll collection type technologies to improve security for two locks on the seaway in Massena, New York, while also implementing a shared resource program to enable broadband communications.

Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT)
Statewide initiatives to develop regional and statewide interoperable communications systems for improved communications between first responders, law enforcement, emergency management, and WisDOT forces for improved emergency response, comprehensive transportation management, and enhanced emergency support functions.

New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT)
Embarking on a statewide program that includes the development of a fully integrated emergency and transportation management center that will be the home of the Office of Emergency Management, state police dispatch, E-9-1-1 public safety answering points and NHDOT’s dispatch center and statewide transportation management center.

This article was written by Jeffrey E. Purdy and provided by Paul Vetter, both with Edwards and Kelcey, Inc. For more information, please contact Mr. Vetter at (904) 636-5432 or email PVetter@ekmail.com.

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We invite you to have some fun and complete the SunGuideSM Disseminator Word Challenge! Unscramble the letters to complete the words for the clues found under the boxes. Use the letters in the red circles to complete the final puzzle. An answer guide follows the Announcements. Enjoy and Good Luck!

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Homeland Security: Castles in the Sky?

Once upon a time, long-ago, a castle’s deep moat and high walls were the most imposing security known to mankind. Castles made sense; just ask any child at the beach. Raise tall, thick walls and dig a deep moat. If only America’s homeland security problems were so easily solved. For the United States (U.S.) economy to thrive, our homeland must be safe and welcoming to trusted travelers and traders entering our country by boat, plane, train, car, truck, or even by foot. We need technologies that can process this volume of traffic. Fortunately, much of the work on these technologies has been underway long before September 11, 2001.

Wireless radio frequency identification (RFID) communications, one of the technologies at work for more than a decade, was originally developed for two U.S. government agencies in the late 1980s to track nuclear materials and cattle. Today, RFID is the backbone of many ITS applications for security and convenience. Millions of Americans enjoy the ease of wireless payment everyday as they travel toll roads, exit parking garages, or purchase fast food. In fact, most Floridians are familiar with RFID through the state’s SunPass® and E-Pass electronic toll collection systems, which speed the flow of traffic through toll barriers almost three times faster than manual collection.

Clearly, for more than a decade, ITS technologies such as RFID not only worked extremely well, but were also adaptable and dynamic. It is easy to see how ITS technology and its already established infrastructure can make an immediate contribution.

Neighborly Advice: Secure Our Trade Corridors
Who are the U.S.’s neighbors, really? Canada and Mexico, of course; but, if you look closely, our neighbors actually extend to Asia, Europe, South America, Africa, and the Middle East. In fact, our neighbors are not just other governments, but private manufacturing enterprises, shipping companies, freight carriers, and virtually all international trade and travel partners. Better security for America’s borders is a multi-billion dollar priority for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as is protection for our other ports of call and sensitive targets. Since Florida is home to 13 military bases, several major international airports, and 12 seaports, it too can benefit from expanding its use of proven RFID technologies.

Many state and federal organizations are hard at work developing pioneering approaches, such as Washington State’s Northwest International Trade Corridor & Smart Border Crossing Program, which inaugurated the first-of-its-kind freight management system to demonstrate a secure chain of custody for containerized in-bond freight. Shipping containers are electronically sealed at the factory in Japan. As these containers enter the U.S. ports at Seattle and Tacoma, the freight management system verifies the integrity of the electronic container seals and begins monitoring the freight as it leaves the port and travels over U.S. interstates in commercial vehicles and passes between the U.S. and Canada.

Through this process, critical logistics information is gathered and distributed to authorized users, such as the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (Bureau) and private freight operators. This helps minimize freight security risks and monitor shipments throughout the Northwest Trade Corridor. The electronic container seals also provide data necessary to identify a container and its associated cargo, and report whether a container has been opened, has exceeded the expected travel time, has been tampered with, or has had an occurrence of an illicit breach so that authorities can be notified. From start to finish the freight management system monitors secure freight passage within the U.S.

Safer Facilities
RFID-based automated access systems are already in use worldwide at major airports and seaports. In many cases, their use is primarily to reduce congestion, streamline fee collection operations, and add customer convenience. But these systems can enable obvious security benefits because they allow authorities to verify information about the car and driver as they enter a facility via wireless means. Both the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army are deploying this technology for heightened security at military bases.

In April 2003, Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts began implementing an RFID-based access control system. Authorized vehicles are equipped with a windshield sticker tag encoded with a specific identity number. As an authorized vehicle drives up to a base access point, a reader recognizes its identity code and lets the system know it is a “friendly” vehicle. If the vehicle does not have an authorized tag, access is denied. The Hanscom access control system will be fully integrated with additional controls so that to gain access, a registered RFID tag must be read/verified and a federal employee badge must be presented by the driver and each vehicle passenger. A similar system is being used by the U.S. Army at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey.

FASTer Borders
The Bureau is implementing new security technology at every major U.S. border crossing to Canada and Mexico. This technology, a program nicknamed FAST (for Free and Secure Trade), is critical to the Bureau’s strategy for facilitating travel and trade while boosting security. FAST allows customs and border patrol agents to instantly identify designated low-risk freight, vehicles, and drivers who are compliant with the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism. These registered vehicles and drivers, equipped with RFID tags and RFID-capable personal ID cards, are expedited through border crossings, reducing congestion and helping customs and border patrol agents target a smaller pool of potentially high-risk vehicles for closer inspection. The FAST program is a key element in the overall strategy to modernize operations, expand advance information regarding people and goods entering the country, and improve integration of systems. As a joint program with Canada and Mexico, FAST also bolsters the Bureau’s strategy to extend the country’s zone of security outward by partnering with foreign governments and the private-sector to bring friendly traders into the security fold.

Castles in the Air?
In the search for homeland security solutions, we are fortunate many of the technologies at work in our lives today can enable the security measures we need. No single technology is the answer, but with creative integration of technologies and public/private cooperation of all critical players, our castle of the future can be built.

Henry David Thoreau might agree, for he believed, “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”

This article was provided by Scott Brosi of TransCore. Mr. Brosi is TransCore’s Area Vice President of Homeland Security and oversees the development and implementation of TransCore’s strategic initiatives in expanding the Homeland Security marketplace. For further information or questions about this article, email him at Scott.Brosi@transcore.com.

For more information on ITS Florida^TM, please check the ITS Florida^TM Web site at www.itsflorida.org or contact Diana Carsey, Executive Director, at (813) 623-5835, extension 2112, or email carseyd@hartline.org.

If you wish to contribute an article to the SunGuide^SM Disseminator on behalf of ITS Florida^TM, please contact Erika Ridlehoover at (813) 752-7193, or email Erika.Ridlehoover@transcore.com.

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Editorial Corner — Emergency Response

In August 2003, it was my privilege to speak before the National Rural ITS Conference on “Emergency Response to Rural Areas.” As the fire chief of a large, mostly urban department with only pockets of rural areas to protect, I felt like an odd choice to address this topic. But I soon realized that all fire departments across the United States face three common elements that are critical in responding to rural emergencies:

1. Getting prompt incident notification;
2. Receiving accurate location information; and
3. Obtaining additional information.

More importantly, these elements are directly related to how our highway systems are designed and built.

The fire department’s primary job is to save lives. As we work against the “Golden Hour,” these notification elements become a unique challenge when serious incidents occur on our rural roadways. As defined by Dr. R. Adams Cowley, Maryland Institute of Emergency Medical Services, the Golden Hour refers to the fact that “patients who have experienced shock for more than one hour will likely die. Surgical intervention within that one hour is critical for the patient’s chance of survival.” The clock starts ticking the moment the injury occurs.

In order to stay within the Golden Hour, the challenge to all of us is to find ways to obtain accurate information and reduce emergency vehicle response times. Rural roadways are usually high-speed, with little or no lighting, and without identifying landmarks. It is critical that planners and builders of rural roadways consider and implement new technology to increase safety to our citizens and reduce emergency vehicle response times.

Let’s start with incident notification. Three elements can eat away at the Golden Hour following an accident on a rural highway:

• The accident may not be discovered quickly;
• There may be a lack of call boxes or poor cellular coverage; and
• The caller may be unfamiliar with the area.

Rural highways are usually long stretches of roadway with wildland on each side. Once a vehicle leaves the highway, it very likely will end up in an area hidden from traffic. The same accident late at night amplifies the problem as traffic is reduced and lighting is basically non-existent. While lighting is expensive and probably not practical from a budget point of view, better cellular coverage and strategically placed call boxes might lessen the time between when an accident occurs and when we are notified.

After we receive notification of an incident, accurate information as to the location is critical. The development of OnStar^TM and automatic crash notifications is a step in the right direction, but it will probably be years before everyone can afford this option. It may be more feasible to put highway identification and direction markings every five to ten miles across rural highways to serve as reminders. One wrong turn can cause several minutes of delayed response time and emergency units sometimes travel four to five miles in rural areas before a turnaround area becomes available. Major interchange cloverleaves and exits which have multiple directions of travel should be labeled more precisely, such as Daytona Beach Westbound, Lane Two or I-95 North, Lanes Three, Four, and Five. There is nothing more heart-wrenching than the feeling firefighters get when they and see the incident in the rearview mirror, knowing the turnaround is several miles up the road.

While obtaining an accurate location is the most critical way to reduce response times, the installation of Opticom^TM can also have a dramatic effect. Opticom^TM is a priority control system that uses a coded, infrared signal, allowing any authorized vehicle the exclusive advantage of a green light to navigate through traffic quicker, smoother, and safer.

If we can find ways to reduce response times by just sixty seconds, fire departments across the nation will save more lives. For victims of cardiac arrest, drowning, choking, smoke inhalation, drug overdose, and auto accidents, sixty seconds can mean life or death. Opticom^TM works; it reduces response times and saves lives.

The third element that plays a very important factor in emergency response is the ability to obtain additional information. From the fire department’s point of view, rural areas generate less emergency calls; therefore, the stations are spread a little farther apart and may share resources. Call boxes with call back features that allow dispatchers to obtain crucial information would make a significant improvement in dispatching the right emergency units. Many times, arriving emergency units will call for additional equipment because the information received from the initial call was brief and dispatchers had no way to contact the caller for additional information. Another good idea is to place cue cards inside the call boxes listing the information needed by emergency services, along with common questions that are asked by our dispatchers.

The final safety issue I would like to mention involves the safety of everyone on the road, including firefighters. With today’s soundproof vehicles, car stereos, TVs, and other equipment, it is virtually impossible to hear warning devices until the emergency vehicle is right on top of you. Air horns and sirens are becoming less and less effective. Accidents involving emergency vehicles are on the rise because people simply do not hear the air horns or sirens. We desperately need help in this area.

For all these reasons, I would like to suggest that fire departments be included in the discussions when planning a new roadway. We have the ability to provide valuable information that could be used to make our highways safer. Roadways are our nation’s lifeline, and we use them everyday. It is your job to make them as safe as possible, and it is our job to respond as quickly as possible should an incident occur. It is both of our jobs to find innovative ways to keep the public informed on traffic conditions and insure that incidents are reported with accurate information. Together we can make a difference!

This editorial was provided by Carl L. Plaugher, Fire Chief, Orange County Fire Rescue Department. For more information, please contact Lt. Dave Waite at (407) 836-9808 or email Dave.Waite@ocfl.net.

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Announcements

Announcing a New Arrival . . .
The FDOT ITS Office extends a warm welcome to Ms. Jacinda Russell, Highway Safety Engineer, with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Jacinda took up residency in the FDOT ITS Office on November 6, as an FHWA trainee on loan to FDOT. She will be based in the FDOT ITS Office in Tallahassee on a five-month assignment and will be working on a variety of ITS projects.

Jacinda’s most recent posting was at the FHWA’s Turner-Fairbank Research Facility in Washington, D.C. Jacinda’s transportation background includes a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering (Transportation) from the University of Tennessee, assignments at FHWA Western Federal Lands in Vancouver, WA, and the FHWA – Kansas Division Office.

We are pleased to have Jacinda in the FDOT ITS Office and look forward to working with her.

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Show Your Support For SunGuide^SM
Cold weather’s ‘round the corner. Need a new jacket to fight off old Jack Frost? Want to buy yourself an early Christmas present? Consider a SunGuide^SM logo-embroidered Port Authority^TM Classic Poplin Jacket.

The cost per jacket is $32.85. If you are interested in ordering a jacket, please email your order, including color and size, to Ms. Kristen Blanton at Kristen.Blanton@dot.state.fl.us.

For additional information on the jacket, you may visit Port Authority’s Web site at www.wearables4u.com/outerwear/jackets/ J753.asp.

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SunGuide^SM Disseminator Word Challenge Answers

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District 1 Chris Birosak FDOT District 1 Traffic Operations PO Box 1249 Bartow, FL 33831 (863) 519-2507 District 2 Peter Vega FDOT District 2 Traffic Operations 2250 Irene Street, MS 2815 Jacksonville, FL 32204-2619 (904) 360-5463 District 3 Elizabeth McCrary FDOT District 3 Traffic Operations 1074 Highway 90 East Chipley, FL 32428-0607 (850) 638-0250 ext. 210 District 4 Tahira Faquir FDOT District 4 Traffic Operations 3400 W. Commercial Blvd. Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309 (954) 777-4370	District 5 Fred Ferrell FDOT District 5 Traffic Operations 719 S. Woodland Blvd., MS 3-562 Deland, FL 32720-6834 (386) 943-5309 District 6 Jesus Martinez FDOT District 6 1000 NW 111th Avenue, MS 6203 Miami, FL 33172 (305) 499-2446 District 7 Bill Wilshire FDOT District 7 Traffic Operations 11201 N. McKinley Drive Tampa, FL 33612 (813) 975-6612 ext. 7869 Florida's Turnpike Enterprise Ingrid Birenbaum Florida's Turnpike Enterprise PO Box 9828 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33310-9828 (954) 975-4855 ext. 1290	Chester Chandler ITS Office Manager (850) 410-5600 Gene Glotzbach ITS Deployments (850) 410-5616 Liang Hsia ITS Architectures, Standards, Research and Training (850) 410-5615 Mike Akridge Commercial Vehicle Operations and Electronic Toll Collection (850) 410-5607 Nick Adams ITS Telecommunications (850) 410-5608
		Physical Address Rhyne Building 2740 Centerview Dr. Suite 3-B Tallahassee, FL 32301	Mailing Address Burns Building 605 Suwannee St. MS 90 Tallahassee, FL 32399

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