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

Team ManagementTypically for a planned special event, a representativeof a law enforcement agency willtake on the role of Incident Commander.Representatives of various agencies will, inturn, report to the Incident Commander.Among those working under the IncidentCommander will be one or more transportationrepresentatives. A lead person shouldbe identified for each agency responsible forpart of the traffic management plan. Amongthose who may be a part of the transportationteam are representatives from the statedepartment of transportation, local trafficagencies, toll agencies and transit agencies.Depending upon what is worked out in theevent operations planning phase, all of theseindividuals may be represented by a singleIncident Commander (e.g., transportationcommander) or by individuals representingeach of their respective agencies.Command PostThe ICS will most likely be used in a multiagencycommand post. Figure 9-3 shows acommand post established at a freeway restarea for a major rural planned special eventin Wisconsin. This will probably be at ornear the venue where the planned specialevent takes place. Again, depending uponthe size of the event, secondary commandposts may exist. These secondary commandposts may take on specific areas of responsibility,such as law enforcement or trafficcontrol. Regardless of where the commandpost is located, or if it is located in multiplelocations, the same principles of incidentcommand will apply. An Incident Commanderwill still have overall responsibilityfor managing the event. What may differ, ifthere are secondary command posts, is howcommunications are handled to and from theIncident Commander.In some instances, a permanent TMC mayserve as the primary command post. Theadvantage of using the TMC is that many ofthe communications resources and otherneeded tools are already in place. If theTMC is used, the ICS should still be employedif multiple agencies comprise thetraffic management team. This operationwould likely differ from typical activities inthe TMC, given the presence of multipleoutside agency representatives. In the eventFigure 9-3Planned Special Event Command Post (Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin DOT.)9-4