What you need:

Incoming Call:

• Name of caller.

• Agency calling from.

• What lane is it in?

• What, if any, agencies are on scene?

• Case number.

• How many vehicles involved?

• Any reported damages?

• Any reported HAZMAT spills?

• Any fatalities?

• Does law enforcement need anything from maintenance (traffic control, street sweep, etc)?

• If ALL lanes are blocked, where is traffic being diverted and how long do they expect all lanes to be blocked?

Lonestar Event:

• Create Lonestar event with "Collision"  or "Overturn" as description, whichever one fits.

• Event type will be  "Collision"  or "Overturn."

• Notified by -select option.-

• ONLY VERIFIED IF law enforcement/CTRMA/HERO is on scene or if found on CCTV, otherwise leave as 'not verified' until an agency has arrived.

• Can you find it on CCTV? If not, notate in history.

​

LANE BLOCKING:

If lane blocking on frontage or freeway, send an email. 

• Include the AUS groups, and the proper maintenance yards. 

• State any important information you obtain such as a law enforcement case number.

• If lane blocking on the freeway, post DMS & Arterial DMS. Have DMS approved by supervisor/designated operator before executing.

ADDITIONAL CRITICAL ITEMS:

• ALL LANES CLOSED the PIO must be notified according to the PIO Criteria.  Look out for emails from Bradley Wheelis if he is away from office and someone else is needing to be notified, add note in history about who/when contacted.

• PIO NOTIFICATION 

• HCRS ACTIVATION

• TOLL WAIVER (if applicable)

• EMERGENCY BRIDGE CLOSURE (if applicable)

EVENT MONITORING

If an incident/crash is identified 0-5 miles from the district boundary (Bell and Comal County) in the direction that traffic would queue up in the neighboring district (Southbound for northern limits, Northbound for southern limits) WACO district and SAT district will be notified respectively.

The TMC will monitor all lane blocking events, when it is determined that there will be an ongoing disruption to the flow of traffic, the following will apply: 

If the freeway closure is on IH-35 Northbound just after the Hays/Comal County line, advise neighboring district:

San Antonio (TransGuide)

210-731-5136

24/7/365

Email: SAT-AMLT@txdot.gov

If the freeway closure is on IH-35 Southbound just after Williamson/Bell County line, advise neighboring district:

Waco

254-867-2700

(M-F 8A-5P)

Outside Waco Hours Contact

Fort Worth (TransVision)

817-370-3661

​

(The information on event monitoring can be found on page 79 of the SOP)

PIO NOTIFICATION INSTRUCTIONS

For any critical incidents that are blocking all lanes of traffic, the TMC will notify the PIO Office at 512-832-7113 anytime during office hours and afterhours. Make note in event history of when they are notified, and if you spoke to them or left them a voicemail.  When leaving a voicemail TMC Operators / Supervisors will leave the following:  

​

• Name of CTECC operator or Supervisor

• Time

• Name of roadway

• Nearest intersection

• Which lanes/direction for closure

PIO NOTIFICATION CRITERIA

PIO: Public Information Officer

PIO Notification of Crashes

• All lanes closed in both directions on the roadways below regardless of day or time:

  • IH-35

  • US-183

  • US-290

  • SH-71

  • SH-130

  • SL-1

  • SL-360

  • RM-620

• All main-lanes, frontage roads, and flyovers closed in one direction on any roadway on weekdays between 5 a.m. until 10 p.m.  *IH-35 seven days a week.

• If overnight crash that closes all lanes in one or both directions will remain closed into †AM rush hour, contact PIO between 4:30-5AM so they can make necessary social notifications.

• If crash meets the Form 2111 criteria click on link for instructions.

                        †AM Rush Hours:      5 AM – 9 AM

                        ††Business Hours:    6 AM – 6 PM

*Do not contact PIO outside ††business hours and weekends if crash does not meet the above criteria

When contacting the PIO, always call the 24-hour hotline number first. If no call back within 10 minutes go to the next person on the on-call list.

• Once all lanes are open PIO will be contacted and advised.

TxDOT PIO ON CALL LIST

24-hour on-call PIO hotline: 512-832-7113

Kellen Mohrmann:  Cell 737-330-7164

Brad Wheelis:  Cell 512-815-7239

Drive Texas website:

Sign On (state.tx.us)

​

HCRS INSTRUCTIONS

​

HCRS Entry – CTECC Shift Supervisors

• Crashes that close all lanes in one or both directions. 24/7/365

  • Monitor closure for proper updates in HCRS

    • Expiration of closure can be set to 2 hours for crashes

    • Expiration of closure can be set to 4 hours for fatalities

  • Renewal of entry may be necessary if closure duration is longer

*PIO will no longer enter crashes into HCRS. Projected start date of October 1, 2022.

How to Enter conditions in HCRS

1. Click on the Enter New or Modify condition line.

2. Select the NEW Tab from the row of tabs at the top of the Menu Section.

3. On right hand side of screen, select County.

4. Click on the Select a Condition button.

5. Click on the Select a Roadway button.

6. Click ON THE MAP where condition starts/stops.

7. Click on the Travel Direction button. (This step is easy to forget initially. You now only have

the option to select a direction that the roadway travels)

8. Click on the Delay and/or Detour buttons if they apply.

9. You can input a Common Roadway Name if you feel it applies but is NOT REQUIRED.

10. Click on the Next button.

11. Click on Descriptions provided or Show All Descriptions button if needing additional ones.

12. Type applicable information in the Enter Description box.

13. Click on the date and time sections to set start/end dates.

14. Click on the Submit button.

15. Click on the OK button when Successfully Added Highway Condition message displays.

16. Go back to the Active Tab to verify condition has been entered. You may have to refresh the

screen or click “My Active Conditions” for it to show up.

How to Modify conditions in HCRS

1. Click on the Enter New or Modify condition line.

2. Any Active Conditions you have entered Should be shown in the My Active Conditions Box

on the right side of the screen. If you did not enter the condition, select the County to show

all conditions for that selection.

3. Select the condition you wish to Modify from the Active Conditions Box. (The map will zoom

to that selection)

4. Mark the Modify Condition selection, which is below the Active Conditions Box.

5. Click the submit button

6. This will take you to the NEW tab with the information from the condition.

7. You will need to select the Travel Direction again, and make any other changes needed.

8. Click Next.

9. This will take you to the Describe Tab. Again, make any changes needed to the

selections/fields.

10. Update the applicable information in the Enter Description box if needed

11. Enter in the End Date and End Time

12. Click on Submit button. Should see "Successfully Added Highway Condition" message.

13. Click on OK button, and then click on OK button again after Deactivate Completed message.

14. Return to the Active Tab to double check condition Date and Time are Correct.

HCRS: Highway Condition Reporting System - Training Site

HCRS User Training PowerPoint

For all Bridge Damage incidents call down list:

District Designee Primary: 1: (512) 574-2603 (Phone number manned 24/7)

If not responsive, then direct information to: 

Secondary Call:  (512) 832-7152   Greg Sanders             Team Lead Gregory.Sanders@txdot.gov
Third Call:           (512) 484-9496    Lianxiang Du              Bridge Engineer lianxiang.du@txdot.gov
Fourth Call:         (512) 739-1264    Jorge Carrasco          Engineer Jorge.Carrasco@txdot.gov

Fifth Call:             (210) 584-5573    Joe Riba                     Bridge Inspection Team Joe.Riba@txdot.gov

                              (737) 990-8778    Mathew Pridgen        Bridge Inspection Team Mathew.Pridgen@txdot.gov

                              (512) 632-4005    Scott Brown              Bridge Inspection Team Scott.Brown@txdot.gov

Sixth Call:            (512) 949-7099    Bin Aregawi               Bridge & HYD Supervisor Biniam.Aregawi@txdot.gov

TMC Initial Email Notification:

• TMC WILL MAKE INITIAL NOTIFICATION CALLING “District Designee Primary: 1: (512) 574-2603” 

• IN THE EVENT OF NO ANSWER BEGIN THE RING DOWN LIST UNTIL CONTACT IS MADE. 

• IF NO CONTACT IS MADE WAIT 10 MIN THEN RESTART CALL DOWN LIST AGAIN UNTIL CONTACT IS MADE. 

• ONCE COMPLETED AND E-MAIL IS SENT TMC OBLIGATIONS HAVE BEEN MEET. 

• A VOICEMAIL SHOULD BE LEFT FOR EVERY CONTACT YOU MAKE WITHOUT ANSWER. 

• ADD NOTES INTO LONESTAR CALL FOR EACH PERSON CONTACTED AND ACTION TAKEN

• EXAMPLE: “CALLED (512) 949-7099   Bin Aregawi NO ANSWER LEFT VOICEMAIL”

• WITHIN LONESTAR EMAIL SEND TO “BRIDGE EMERGENCY CLOSURE” GROUP AS WELL AS THE NORMAL 

TOLL SUSPENSION REQUEST:

Toll suspension is requested to facilitate the flow of traffic around a major incident that have no other reasonable route.

• Major incidents:

• Multi-vehicle collision

• Fatality incident

• Commercial vehicle incident

• HAZMAT incident or spilled load

• Public emergencies 

(Police activity, chemical release, fires, act of nature like flooding, hurricane evacuation, etc)

ALL information will need to be documented in the events history.

If law enforcement, or TxDOT management request a toll suspension you must obtain:

• Requestor name

• Requestor agency

• Reason for the toll suspension

• Contact information (phone number AND email)

• TMC shift supervisor, or designated operator, will contact the TxDOT toll division POC, as shown on the maintenance website under each toll location. The caller will request the toll suspension, providing all information obtained from the requestor.

From there, the caller will send a follow-up email via the Lonestar event to 

" TOLL SUSPENSION REQUEST"   group with the following information:

Email subject line will state “Toll Suspension REQUESTED” after the already generated subject.

After sending the request, the toll division POC will contact the toll division director, or deputy toll division director to obtain approval.

The toll division will notify TMC of their decision (approved or denied.)

If TMC has not heard from someone within 30 minutes, the TMC employee handling the suspension will call back to obtain an answer.

 The TMC employee will then notify TxDOT management, district engineer, and deputy district engineer via email of the decision.

As of 12/18/23:

v  AUS-ITS-Everyone

v  Joseph Whiteford

– TMC Project Manager

v  Brenda Guerra – Transportation Engineer Supervisor

v  Miguel Arellano – Deputy District Engineer

v  Tucker Ferguson – District Engineer

 Approved Toll Suspension:

Once toll suspension is approved, the TMC employee will notify the public to use the toll road as an alternate route via the TxDOT public website and DMS message.

TxDOT Public Website:

On Info Page 2 of the Lonestar events, place a note in the PUBLIC notes section advising of the incident, and where they can divert.

Example: “Due to a significant incident on IH-35 NB at William Cannon Drive, SH-130 northbound and SH-45 eastbound tolls are suspended from SH-71 to IH-35.

Once the messages are set up, an email will be sent to the “Toll Suspension Request” and “AUS-SignificantIncident” groups including the public note into the note section of the email.

Denied Toll Suspension:

The TMC employee handling the request will send an email to the “Toll Suspension Request” and “AUS-SignificantIncident” groups including in the notes that the suspension was denied.

Example: “Toll suspension DENIED for SH-45 and SH-130 Toll.”

Make sure everything has been documented in event history.

Toll Reinstatement:

When the incident has cleared, the TMC employee handling the request will contact the TxDOT toll division POC via phone and advise to reinstate tolls. An email will then be sent to the “Toll Suspension Request” and “AUS-SignificantIncident” groups to reinstate the tolls.

Example: “Requesting tolls to be reinstated for SH-45 an SH-130 toll”

The DMS signs and public note will then be terminated and removed.