managing travel for planned special events - FHWA Operations ...

events and annual fairs, or major events suchas the Olympic Games or the Super Bowl,less prominent events may not gain noticeuntil just before the event. Having a programin place to identify special events requiringplanning well in advance is beneficial.This initiative could take severalforms. One example is regularly scheduledmeetings where upcoming events are notedand discussed among regional agencies.Identification of potential problems wouldalert all involved to the event and allowagencies to decide if multi-agency planningneeds to take place. Such meetings could beheld specifically for this purpose, or theycould be incorporated as part of gatheringsheld for other purposes.The process of regional coordination andcollaboration leads to the products of coordination.These products include a regionalconcept of operations, baseline performancedata, current performance information, andoperating plans and procedures that informregional entities (public and private sector)about how the regional transportation systemmust operate over time (includingplanned improvements).Integration with Other Transportation ProgramsPlanned special events are just one exampleof transportation activities requiring multiagencycoordination. Special events planningcould be held in conjunction with othermulti-agency efforts such as constructioncoordination, incident management planning,and wireless communications coordination.These activities bring together most,if not all, of the key regional transportationand public safety agencies and, in turn, allowthem to discuss special events whilethey are already together. By expanding theagenda of such meetings to include initialspecial events planning, agencies are givenone more reason to attend. Also, meetingfatigue is limited by not having stakeholdersattend separate meetings focused only onspecial events.For some smaller special events, these regularlyscheduled meetings may be sufficientto alert affected stakeholders and to do aminimal amount of planning. For largerspecial events, requiring more detailedpreparation and coordination, separate meetingsshould be considered. This will allowspecialists to participate where necessaryand will allow the original meeting to notlose its focus on a wider agenda. The regularlyscheduled meetings can also be a placewhere updates of the more detailed plan arepresented.Policy SupportInteragency AgreementsIn most instances, transportation and lawenforcement agencies have no prohibitionsfrom coordinating efforts with other agencies,especially for events expected to havean impact on that agency. However, thereare instances where interagency agreementsare helpful, or even necessary, for multiagencycooperation.While interagency agreements will varybased on state law and the culture of theagencies, there are some common issuesthey can address.One issue would be areas of responsibility.State police, state DOT and toll agenciescould each be given broad areas of responsibilitythrough an interagency agreement. Byspelling out these responsibilities ahead oftime, turf issues can be minimized and thesame ground does not have to be coveredeach time the agencies gather to plan a specialevent.4EVENT PROFILE POST-EVENT ACTIVITIES DAY-OF-EVENT ACTIVITIES ADVANCE PLANNINGOVERVIEW4-5