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

• Identification of funding sources.• Funding of the program itself.• Identification of needed infrastructureimprovements.By handling these issues, the program willallow operations staff to focus on specificplans and leave some of these other concernsto the group.Institutional IssuesA regional planned special events programwill face some of the same institutional issuesfaced by other multi-agency programs.To assure the success of the program, thefollowing two institutional issues should behandled at the start of the process:• Control and leadership issues.• Need for buy-in from participating agencies.The program needs to be flexible enough todeal with changing conditions. The structureestablished may not always be the idealone for every event. Agencies should becomfortable dealing with the ambiguity thatcomes with new situations and be able toadjust to the situation presented.The flexibility also affects budgeting. Whileexpenditures need to be allocated, a reallocationwill likely be needed at times to addressnew concerns and needs.While a core group will participate in runningthe program, it may be necessary fromtime to time to bring in new organizations.The program should anticipate expansion sothat it does not become an issue and can easilybe integrated. While institutional issuesamong participating agencies may be a problemat the start, there exists danger of theprogram itself becoming an institution andpresenting its own set of issues.Many institutional issues can best be handledby those who participate in the regionalplanned special events program. The relationshipsestablished by committee memberscan be extremely helpful in overcoming encounteredproblems. As personal relationshipsdevelop among the members, institutionalbarriers become less significant andeasier to deal with.A regional committee on planned specialevents should not see their task as a onetimeeffort. Even without a specific eventon the horizon, the group should work tomaintain the relationships developed andadjust the planning process so that it remainsfresh. This could be encouraged throughregular meetings in which the group looks atupcoming special events that might requireregional coordination or by expanding therole of the group so they can address othertransportation management issues inbetweenspecial events. This could includeareas such as roadway construction coordinationand incident management planning.Some regions have even used groups such asthis to provide better regional coordinationfor non-events such as road weather managementor recreational traffic management(e.g., reach the beach, etc.).While many of the issues addressed in thissection look at planning for special eventson both a short-term and medium-term basis,agencies also should consider long-termplanning (10-20 years) on how they wish tohandle special events. This long-term planningcan address areas such as: (1) majorinfrastructure improvements, (2) creation ofnew organizations that may be needed, or(3) long-term financial and legislative needsto address these improvements. While operationslevel people can help identify theseneeds, the development of long-term plansalso will require the involvement of plannersand executive staff, along with legislators4EVENT PROFILE POST-EVENT ACTIVITIES DAY-OF-EVENT ACTIVITIES ADVANCE PLANNINGOVERVIEW4-9