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

operations, into consideration. This isparticularly true given that ITS appearsto be losing its special funding statusthat it enjoyed in ISTEA and TEA-21.The current trend to “mainstream” ITS(and operations) into the traditional decision-makingprocess of transportationplanning means that operations and ITSdeployments will be increasingly fundedthrough regular sources and comparedwith traditional transportation components,such as road widening and newconstruction. There is consequently aneed to strengthen the ties between managementand operations, ITS, and thetransportation planning process.• The agency tier is where the infrastructurecomprising the surface transportationnetwork (e.g., freeways, bridges,tunnels, streets, rail lines, rolling stock,traffic control/management devices) istypically owned. This level develops amulti-year program and budget that definesresources and commitments for athree to 10 year time frame, with updatesevery year or two. It is at this tier wherepriorities, budgets, and allocation of resourcesare established. From the perspectiveof freeway management andoperations, it is at the agency levelwhere the planning, design and implementationactivities for the freewaymanagement program (i.e. special event)take place. It is important that the processto develop the ITS – based strategicplan (or any such focused plan or project)support the overall transportationplanning process; not compete with it.Moreover, the end products of these “focused”processes can and should be usedto feed information back into the overalltransportation planning process.REFERENCES1. “Regional Transportation OperationsCollaboration and Coordination,”Federal Highway Administration,Washington, D.C., 2002 [Online].Available:http://www.itsdocs.fhwa.dot.gov//JPODOCS/REPTS_TE//13686.html.[2003, August 12].2. “Traffic Incident Management SelfAssessment Guide,” Federal HighwayAdministration, Washington,D.C., 2002 [Online]. Available:http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/Travel/IncidentMgmt/timsa.htm. [2003, August12].3. Traffic Manual, Washington StateDepartment of Transportation,Olympia, Washington, March 2002,182 pp.4. Special Events Permit Requirementsand Guidelines, City of MiamiBeach Office of Arts, Culture, & Entertainment,Miami Beach, Florida,n.d., 19 pp.5. Festivals & Events: Policies & Procedures,City of Louisville, Louisville,Kentucky, September 1999, 49pp.6. ITS America website, www.itsa.org.7. Federal Highway Administration,“Freeway Management and Operations:State–of –the–Practice WhitePaper”, January, 2003.8. “Freeway Operations in 2000 andBeyond”, Members and Friends ofthe TRB Committee on Freeway Operations.4-34