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

Figure 6-32 describes a process for assessingcorridor and/or local traffic flow routes.Traffic control strategies for increasing corridorroute capacity include eliminatingweaving areas or other ramp control tactics.Strategies for local routes include stripingadditional travel lanes to handle flow in thepredominant direction, restricting turningmovements, and revising traffic signal timingplans. The “Traffic Control Plan” sectionof this chapter describes these strategiesand other mitigation alternatives in greaterdetail.Aside from parking contingencies and theoccurrence of severe congestion on the dayof-event,practitioners should maintain andpromote the same flow routes identified inthe traffic flow plan. These routes are generallypre-signed and communicated toevent patrons and participants prior to theevent. Measures of effectiveness for evaluatingthe performance of designated trafficflow routes, in additional to correspondingtraffic control strategies, include: (1) time toregain free-flow operations and (2) time toclear parking areas.NoIdentify TrafficFlow RouteEstimate ExistingRoute CapacityForecastTrafficDemand >Capacity?YesIdentifyTraffic Control Strategyto Increase CapacityForecastTrafficDemand >Capacity?NoEstimate Changes inBackgroundTraffic DemandConduct Analysis andModeling to EstimateOperational MOEsYesReevaluateTraffic Flow RouteReevaluateTraffic ControlStrategiesAlternate RoutesThe deployment of an alternate route planmarks a key traffic management strategy forminimizing the effect of non-recurring congestion,caused by a traffic incident orevent-generated traffic demand, on trafficflow. It serves to reduce demand at a trafficincident site or bottleneck through the diversionof traffic from the mainline to parallelfreeways, arterials, and streets. As part oftraffic incident management efforts, somejurisdictions may maintain alternate routeplans for freeway and arterial segments traversinga region.Review Route withCommunity InterestStakeholdersImpact onTraffic OperationsAcceptable?YesRecommend RouteNoIdentify Event Trafficor Parking RestrictionsFigure 6-32Traffic Flow Route Assessment Process6-40