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SRT to the Rescue!

SRT members clearing an incident on the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

 

SRT stands for Seattle Response Team

When you think of “first responders,” you might think of Seattle Police or Seattle Fire Department (because, yup, it’s them!), but did you know that SDOT has our own team of responders who help keep our city streets clear of incidents? That’s our Seattle Response Team!

 

They’re part of what’s called the new Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Program – it means all our City teams are always ready to respond to traffic incidents and work in coordination with each other and other agencies to clear incidents as quickly, safely and efficiently as possible.

 

Other members of our overall response team include our Transportation Operations Center (TOC) – they are the eyes and ears of SDOT and sometimes spot an incident before anyone else. The TOC coordinates with our Radio Dispatcher Office to make sure our SRT knows about traffic incidents so they can help clear them to keep people moving.

 

New Services:

To beef up our response, we increased the number of our SRT from 5 to 9 people and we are adding 3 new trucks to our fleet, which will really helped us to clear incidents quickly on our major streets. New services that responders have been providing to the public include:

  • Moving stalled vehicles out of travel lanes safely (using a GoJak tool – see it in action in this video)
  • Providing gas to stranded motorists who are blocking major roadways
  • Jumping batteries using new jump box equipment
  • Helping motorists by changing flat tires
  • Acting as SDOT’s on-scene incident command representative
  • Supporting coordination between SPD, SFD and SDOT
  • Providing updated incident information to our TOC to be shared with the public, SDOT executive team and the Mayor’s office
  • Clearing road of debris and hazardous materials spills created by accidents
  • Coordinating SDOT heavy equipment and sweepers to help clear larger incidents
  • Setting up traffic control for longer incidents and crash investigations

 

And all this is in addition to the regular duties our responders perform on a daily basis as part of their everyday jobs! Our City responders and our SRT are here for you, 24/7!

Yes, our SRT was there when this happened too.

Recognizing and watching out for our City’s first responders is the whole point of National Traffic Incident Response Week this week, November 13 -19! They keep their eyes out for us, so this is a great reminder to keep an eye out for them!