The Highway Emergency Response Operators (HERO) program is returning to actively patrol metro Atlanta’s interstates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Georgia Department of Transportation announced that the program will resume active patrols in the overnight hours seven days a week and will also restore its full coverage area of nearly 400 miles of interstate highways across metro Atlanta, effective Tuesday, July 1, 2025.
HEROs are primarily responsible for roadway clearance after traffic-related incidents, ensuring that normal traffic flow is restored on metro Atlanta interstates. Additionally, the program offers free roadside assistance, including assisting stranded motorists with flat tires, dead batteries, and providing fuel and coolant as needed.
The long-standing HERO program has been serving motorists in the metro Atlanta area since 1994. For many years, HERO units conducted around-the-clock active patrols. In 2023, staffing challenges led the Georgia DOT to reduce HERO hours of active patrols to 5 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. every day, ensuring adequate HERO coverage on Atlanta-area interstate highways during peak traffic times.
Meanwhile, officials said they launched an aggressive recruitment effort to hire and train new operators.
Additionally, at that time, HERO’s service area was reduced across metro Atlanta. To provide additional support and ensure adequate coverage, the Georgia DOT’s Coordinated Highway Assistance & Maintenance Program (CHAMP), which is responsible for roadway clearance and roadside assistance outside of metro Atlanta, was involved. Despite these changes, over the past two years, both HERO and CHAMP have continued to serve motorists in Atlanta.
From July 2023 to April 2025, there were about 135,141 motorists and crash assists across all HERO coverage areas by HERO and CHAMP units.
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