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

transportation agencies and law enforcementin addition to elected officialsand ranking officials of other publicagencies.• A regional organization may assume theduties of an oversight team.• Under a formal review process, an eventplanning team may seek oversight teamapproval of a feasibility study scope orconceptual traffic management planprior to commencing work on the finaldeliverable. Both stakeholder groups interactagain to review feasibility studyresults and final traffic management operationsplans.• Some jurisdictions have a championcharged with resolving institutional andoperations issues affecting travel managementfor planned special events.These champions have the position tomitigate issues hampering the event operationsplanning process. Therefore,they should administer the review process.• Jurisdictions should have an alternateofficial ready to replace the currentchampion should that person resign frompresent duty.Performance StandardsThis chapter included a review of varioustransportation system operations performanceobjectives and associated measures ofeffectiveness that stakeholders may use tomonitor system performance on the day-ofeventand, in turn, evaluate travel managementefforts. During the event operationsplanning phase, stakeholders must set andagree to performance standards used to assesstraffic impact mitigation proposals.These performance standards typically representlevel of service (LOS) measures applicableto freeway and street segments,freeway junctions, and roadway intersections.Stakeholders assigned to developmitigation strategies or review planned specialevent impacts on traffic should referencejurisdiction Traffic Impact Studyguidelines defining accepted LOS thresholds.The LOS thresholds likely vary byroadway classification. In urban and metropolitanareas, jurisdictions may deem anLOS D, describing high-density stable flow,acceptable for freeways, arterials, and majorintersections. Similarly, an LOS C, describingstable flow, may represent the allowablethreshold for local streets and intersections.Small urban and rural areas may have morestringent requirements. Jurisdictions mayrelax their performance standards and allowLOS E operation, describing unstablecapacity flow, on major roadway facilitiesfor infrequent planned special events.Policies and AgreementsThe establishment of special policies andagreements to support planning and day-ofeventmanagement of planned special eventsfacilitates efficient stakeholder collaborationand defines important event support stakeholderservices that may be incorporatedinto a traffic management plan for a particularplanned special event. These initiativesimprove interagency relationships, clarifydecision-making responsibilities and expectations,and secure on-call services andagency actions. For instance, a particularpolicy or agreement may intuitively supporta contingency response plan to mitigate unanticipatedcongestion delay on the day-ofevent.Stakeholders may develop policiesand agreements specific to a particularplanned special event or for all planned specialevents in a region. Because of the potentialsignificant time to develop and approvea particular policy or agreement,stakeholders should establish these initiativesearly in the event operations planningphase or during the program planning phase.5-14