Collision control with CRASH

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (PANYNJ) conceives, builds, operates and maintains infrastructure critical to the New York/New Jersey region’s trade and transportation network. These facilities include Americaïs busiest airport system, marine terminals and ports, the PATH rail transit system, six tunnels and bridges between New York and New Jersey, the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, and the World Trade Center. Microdesk has been providing CAD, BIM, GIS and application development and integration services to the Port Authority for more than 10 years.

Microdesk was tasked by the PANYNJ to maintain, enhance and support their Traffic Engineering’s data management system used to record, report, and analyze all traffic-related accidents that occur on agency property. The web-based solution created, dubbed “CRASH” (Crash Records Analysis for Streets and Highways), is a database-driven, spatially–enabled recording system that acts as a single repository for all data related to traffic accidents.

By recording the details of each accident directly from Port Authority Police Accident Report forms, accident factors such as weather conditions, time of day, number of vehicles involved, and type of accident are all input into the system. Each accident is plotted at a specific location in space, enabling spatial queries to be run against the accident data. The CRASH system is used by Traffic Engineering to power analysis–driven reviews of existing traffic conditions to evaluate areas that should receive the highest priority for engineering improvements such as better traffic control signage, wider on–ramps, or new turn lanes.