Handling the Worst Crash Ever in Virginia

Public Roads, May, 2001 by Melissa A. Winn

Another concern was the lack of a truly unified command post. With a unified command post, the responding agencies could better understand what role each agency needed to play, and information could be disseminated from a central location.

"That wasn't really used in this incident," said Tom Jennings of the Federal Highway Administration's Virginia Division. "Having one command center to issue orders would help with calling tow trucks, getting VDOT on the scene, even letting agencies know: 'Can we come up the other side of the freeway? Is that side of the freeway open?"'

Kirkpatrick explained that a working group has now been established to address some of these issues, including communications and technology, and to create some more formalized agreements and procedures among responding agencies.

"It's not always the fire sergeant or the lieutenant that shows up on a scene," Kirkpatrick said. "The working group will make sure we all understand each other's role so that no matter who the players are, we still have the same game plan."

Nevertheless, the agencies agreed that it was an extraordinary effort by all agencies, state police, fire and rescue, the towing companies, and VDOT, working together to clear the scene of what is now known as Virginia's worst highway crash in history.

"Were there things that we could've done to open the roads faster?" Kirkpatrick asked. "With weather conditions and a crash of this scale, no dramatic improvements would've been seen."

Robertson agrees, "Initially some people were defensive, and there was some recognition about what things had been dropped, what could've been done differently. But after some explanation and understanding, we all agreed that the most amazing thing about this incident was that the interstate was open at 10 p.m. that same day. It was absolutely amazing."

Melissa A. Winn is the assistant editor of Public Roads. She is employed by Avalon Integrated Services Corp. of Arlington, Va.