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PROBLEM STATEMENT

Following Hurricane Sandy in 2012, power and utility restoration became paramount across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions. Expediting power restoration efforts became a top priority for state and local government. As with most large storms, many states were impacted. Additionally, many non-impacted or “pass through” states had a roll in the flow of utility fleets moving through their state(s) on the way to the impacted states. During Sandy, utility crews came from many states across the country and from Canada. While there are many issues when moving fleets across state lines, toll stations quickly become an element that impact response times and effective fleet movement across state lines. Out of region fleets and vehicles did not have electronic toll systems accounts established in the E-ZPass systems and therefore had to use manual toll lanes causing long lines and delays.

The problem arises in large regional, multi-state events when people and vehicles come from other states/Canada and are not familiar with the roads, people, processes, and ETC systems in the impacted state(s). For example trucks and crews coming from Florida may not be familiar with New Jersey's (NJ) and New York City’s (NYC) ETC systems, people and processes. These Florida trucks/crews rely upon their internal electric sector mutual assistance processes which coordinate through the local electric companies in NJ and NYC. This process works well but still requires coordination with many “pass through” states along the way.

It is in these large multi-state events that the need for further education is needed from the regional perspective that helps both government and the private sector coordinate efforts to expedite power restoration and private sector fleet movement efforts.

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BUSINESS CASE

For any process to work effectively, it needs to be simple and operationally consistent.

The private sector has expressed the need for a process that can work the same during normal or “blue sky” days as it does during storm or “dark sky” days. Having access to automated systems can be extremely helpful to prevent user errors and provide a more consistent operational environment.

Having a seamless, interoperable ETC (electronic toll collection) system in multiple states is an effective method for moving private sector resources across state lines quickly. The benefits for these systems are many:

• Expedites power, supply chain and utility restoration efforts by helping responding fleets arrive in impacted states faster
• Provides a consistent process for blue sky and dark sky days
• States and jurisdictions can collect and receive tolls immediately without having to go through administrative processes to track vehicles back to their owners, issue violation letters and fines, and waiting on collection and/or reimbursement processes.
• Provides the private sector an effective method to acquire and move resources efficiently through tolls stations without waiting on a third-party
• Reduces current “post storm” administrative workload to issue/track fines and resolve collections/reimbursements
• Supports private sector mutual aid and billing processes across state lines
• Allows for simpler billing and tracking process
• Reduces the need for federal intervention (e.g. FEMA declarations)

Findings:
During Sandy, it was learned that a one hour delay at a toll station in a “pass through” state(s) can start a series of cumulative impacts that delay restoration efforts by as much as 24 hours in the impacted state(s).

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