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1998 FHWA
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Ensuring that our highways remain in a state of military readiness is a responsibility we have to our Nation. Perhaps, the greatest example of intermodalism is reflected in the mobilization and deployment of military forces and equipment. Military personnel must assemble rapidly at selected military bases from which military units, equipment, and supplies move initially over roads to air bases and seaports from which they deploy overseas.
In addition, when a natural disaster or emergency occurs, the condition of our roadways can mean the difference between life and death for Americans in need. The help upon which we rely during our most desperate moments most often is received via an emergency medical vehicle, fire truck, or police car.
Virtually all FHWA programs that are designed to help to move people and goods efficiently over our Nation's highways have national security implications.
Improving National Defense Mobility | Responding to Disaster | Letting Emergency Room Doctors Ride the Ambulance, Virtual Style
In FY 1998, we made considerable progress toward our goal to improve the Nation's national defense mobility. We renewed our coordination efforts with the Department of Defense's Military Traffic Management Command (MTMC) and our partner State transportation departments through periodic meetings concerning the status and well-being of the roads and bridges on the Defense Highway System, Strategic Highway Network (STRAHNET), and STRAHNET Connector systems to more than 200 critical military bases and installations. We also revitalized the Emergency Highway Traffic Regulation (EHTR) program and provided assistance to state transportation departments in their efforts to modernize and streamline their EHTR's to ensure an effective allocation of highway space to military movements on a priority basis during a national defense emergency and to safeguard the general public during extreme emergency situations.
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This year, FHWA recommitted itself to responding as rapidly as possible in the face of disasters that impact the safety of the system of highways and bridges used by the public. Through the agency's Emergency Relief (ER) and Emergency Relief for Federally Owned Roads (ERFO) programs, we committed millions of dollars and significant human resources to assist States, counties, and other Federal agencies to provide the fastest repair possible to severe infrastructure damage. Also, in an effort to reduce red tape and to provide assistance as quickly as possible, we initiated revisions to the ER regulations, clarified a number of policy directives, prescribed potential innovative contracting methods, and updated our ER Manual to make it more user-friendly.
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As part of our FY 1998 TransGuide deployment, LifeLink provides two-way video teleconferencing and data links between ambulance and hospital. This technology allows the trauma center physician to see the patient, monitor important vital signs, and provide emergency medical services personnel with directions through which they are able to perform more complicated treatments than ever before in the critical moments before the patient arrives at the hospital.
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