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

• Use of television commercials and radioadvertisements.• Use of an event transportation guide forinformation on the service.In addition to disseminating information viathe Internet during the 2002 Winter Olympics,the Utah DOT also operated a 511telephone information system. Figure 7-8shows the 511 service structure establishedby the Utah DOT. On a typical day duringthe Olympics, the 511 service received1,923 calls. (2) Callers to the 511 service accessedthe following main menus within thesystem:• Traffic menu• Transit menu• Olympics menu• Road conditions menuBoth residents and visitors were surveyed inregard to an evaluation of the telephone informationsystem. The results of the surveyshowed that 25 percent of visitors heard ofthe 511 service and 17 percent used it. Thesurvey results reported 44 percent of residentsheard of the 511 service; however,only 4 percent of residents used it.The 511 service is normally run by a regionalor statewide public agency, and theservice is not intended solely for plannedspecial events. A telephone informationsystem is also used on a daily basis bycommuters and other travelers in the area toobtain information on daily traffic conditions.However, one way that planned specialevent stakeholders can promote use ofthe existing service is to advertise it on theevent website. This was done on the Bristol(TN) Motor Speedway’s website. On thefirst page of directions to the venue, an advertisement,shown in Figure 7-9, wasplaced for the area’s 511 service. As a result,the event website alerted event patronsof a means to obtain accurate, up-to-datetraveler information before commencingtheir trip to the event venue or while enroute.Figure 7-8Telephone Information System Menu Structure (2)7-18