ATA Highway Watch shifts into higher gear
Apr 1, 2004 12:00 PM
The American Trucking Associations has entered into a $19.3 million agreement with the Transportation Security Administration to expand ATA's Highway Watch program, which trains highway professionals to identify and report safety and security situations on United States roads.
Under the agreement, ATA will expand the current 24/7/365 national call-in center to handle an increasing volume of calls from highway professionals and coordinate state Amber Alert missing children programs with Highway Watch.
Next, the group will expand its Highway Watch operations center that coordinates with federal and state agencies and transportation companies in preparing event response and recovery action plans for crisis situations.
The original ATA Truck Informational Sharing and Analysis Center will become the Highway ISAC to better incorporate and reflect information available among the partnering highway organizations. A pool of security-cleared experts will expand the Highway ISAC. The center, in conjunction with TSA and DHS, will collate and analyze industry data from the Highway Watch program and prepare it for use in emergency responses, and when appropriate, for dissemination to the transportation industry and the public.
