Highway Watch Program Expanded

Feb 1, 2005 12:00 PM

A new agreement by the Transportation Security Administration will expand the American Trucking Association's Highway Watch Program.

The agreement, which comes with a $19.3 million grant, will provide a training and communications infrastructure to prepare more than 400,000 transportation professionals to respond in the event they or their cargo are the target of a terrorist attack.

The program gives training for private- and public-sector truck and bus drivers, and other highway sector professionals.

“It makes sense to have a plan that coordinates the efforts of the entire transportation sector to keep our highways safe and secure — and to keep rolling,” ATA President Bill Graves said. “Otherwise, given the country's dependence on transportation, the country stops.”

The Highway Watch program will link the transportation professionals with first responders, law enforcement and the intelligence community.

For example, a truck driver in one state who witnesses a suspicious event will call the National Highway Watch call center, who will alert the Transportation Security Coordination Center. The system was used in 2002, when a Kentucky truck driver alerted local law enforcement to the car driven by the convicted Washington D.C. snipers.

Under the cooperative agreement, ATA will expand the current 24-hour national call center to handle the increasing volume of calls from highway professionals.

Amber Alert missing children calls also will be coordinated with Highway Watch.

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