TDOT expands rural service patrols under new contract to speed roadway clearance

Commissioner Reid and TDOT staff announced an expansion of the agency’s HELP safety service patrol into rural parts of Tennessee under a new contract with Auto Base, a company owned by VMS Vehicle Management Solutions. The legislature provided recurring state funding for the effort, TDOT said, meaning the rural service patrol is intended as an ongoing program rather than a temporary pilot.

TDOT staff member Adam, who led the presentation on operations, said the goal is to mirror the existing HELP program that has run since 1999: “You’ll see a number in green. It says 24 minutes versus 66 minutes — that’s average roadway clearance time when we have a HELP truck on the scene.” He told the advisory group that the contractor operates safety service patrols in 23 states and that TDOT is asking the vendor to adopt TDOT’s training and operational model so the service “looks exactly identical to ours.”

Under the contract, the contractor’s crews will provide rapid clearance (push/pull/drag where safe), on‑scene traffic control and temporary work zones, and secondary services such as tire changes, jump starts and fuel assistance. Adam said teams will coordinate with Highway Patrol, local law enforcement, fire and rescue, and maintenance crews; TDOT will dispatch rural help units from its TMCs and will track performance via incident data.

TDOT described a phased rollout across four regions. Region 2 (Chattanooga area) and Region 4 (Memphis area) have already deployed; Region 1 (Knoxville) was scheduled to start in the next phase. The full program will include roughly 78 vehicles and 113 personnel across the state, deployed in four phases so TDOT can scale training and operations.

The agency emphasized the program’s legislative funding was designated as recurring in the state budget, a point the commissioner highlighted in response to questions about sustainability: the rural service patrol expansion, TDOT said, is not dependent on one‑time funds. TDOT also plans performance monitoring through its TMCS/TMC hubs and contractual requirements tied to clearance times and incident data reporting.

TDOT said staff will supervise the contract from headquarters and will work with regional traffic operations managers and district superintendents during rollout. The department plans regular updates as the rural patrols reach full deployment.

Next steps: the regional phase start dates and near‑term staffing verifications; TDOT will provide further operational metrics as the contractor’s routes mature.