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

the impact to neighborhoods surroundingthe event venue.• Provides important advance informationfor event patrons and participantsregarding best access routes to the event.These directions provide event patrons,particularly those not familiar with theregion, an increased level of comfortwhen traveling on the day-of-event.Event patrons also recognize that thetraffic management team will sign, staff,and prioritize flow on designated routes.Non-attendee transportation system usersbenefit by gaining advance notice ofevent-designated traffic and transitroutes.Information RequirementsTable 6-21 lists various sources of data andinformation that drive the traffic flow plandevelopment process. Key points thatshould be considered include:Table 6-21Traffic Flow Plan Information SourcesSOURCE• Market area analysiso Regional directional distribution• Traffic demand analysiso Local directional distributiono Day-of-event traffic demand• Site access and parking plano Parking area assignment• Road closures required for event stagingo Street use event• Public safety agency requirementso Emergency access routes• Transit agency requirementso Scheduled and event service• A traffic flow plan should accommodatebackground traffic flow in addition totransit service, which will be promotedas an event patron travel alternative.• Recommended traffic flow routes shouldnot traverse or intersect emergency accessroutes, if possible.• Event mandated road closures refer, inparticular, to street use event parade andrace routes. If not already designated,the event planning team should first determinethe street use route.o Table 6-22 provides a general checklistfor evaluating the impact of closingone or more adjoining streetsegments, while Figure 6-29 shows aparade staging area.o Typical staging areas include offstreetparking areas and cross streetsadjacent to the parade route.o Upon reviewing the street closurechecklist, the event planning teamshould consult with community intereststakeholders and public safetyagencies in order to identify all concernsand solicit input.Another key information component concernsthe identification of roadway capacitydeficiencies or bottleneck locations. Thisincludes freeway weaving areas, freewayramp junctions, freeway/street lane-drops,and intersection traffic control. Bottlenecklocations yield a constant rate of flow (e.g.,saturation rate), and appropriate traffic controlstrategies can temporarily alleviate thebottleneck on the day-of-event by increasingsaturation flow rate. Consult the feasibilitystudy roadway capacity analysis results orconduct new analyses to evaluate operationson traffic flow routes not previously considered.In addition, practitioners should considerdriving, and creating a video/photo log,of proposed traffic flow routes, emergencyaccess routes, and transit routes. This activityassists in verifying computer analysisresults and facilitating off-site event planningteam evaluation of recommendedroutes.6EVENT PROFILE POST-EVENT ACTIVITIES DAY-OF-EVENT ACTIVITIES ADVANCE PLANNINGOVERVIEW6-37