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

operations planning phase, the ICS would beused to identify who is the Incident Commanderat the TMC and how activities arecoordinated within the TMC during theevent.Advantages of a single command post include:(1) key agencies are represented in asingle location and (2) communicationsamong agencies are simplified.An advantage of secondary command postsis that event management can be more easilyswitched if a problem develops at the primarycommand post.Resource PlanningThe plan developed for the resources neededfor the event represent the collected bestopinion on what is needed. Resource planninginvolves the following two parts: (1)determining the scope and amount of resourcesthat will be used on the day-of-eventand (2) identifying resources in advance incase the traffic management team needsmore resources than planned to implementthe traffic management plan.The most important resource that stakeholdersmust plan for involve personnel resources.Planning considerations include:• What type and quantity of skilled personnelare needed?• Where should personnel be deployed?• What responsibilities will individual personnelhave?Most day-of-event field personnel will workin areas different from their normal, day-todaywork location. Relief for personnel maybe more difficult to obtain because ofagency constraints, and relief assignmentshould be part of personnel planning. Fieldpersonnel may require frequent breaks indifficult weather conditions, and trafficmanagement team officials may have to substituteback-up staff if planned relief is notavailable.The operation of planned special events onthe day-of-event includes three phases: ingress,the event itself, and egress. Resourcesneed to be available for all three phases withemphasis on ingress and egress. The trafficmanagement team will likely need fewerpersonnel for traffic management during theevent, and part of the planning should includewhat level of staffing is needed duringthis period. Depending on the length of theevent, a second shift may report to handleegress. If a first (ingress) and second(egress) shift exists, traffic managementteam officials can stagger work times (e.g.,first shift individual reporting later and leavinglater or second shift individual reportingearly and leaving early) to maintain sufficientpersonnel on-site during the event.Another consideration concerns how quicklystaff and other resources can be deployedincase the event ends sooner than expected,thus causing early departures.Managing TrafficWhile the traffic management plan and supportingimplementation plan notes howstakeholders expect to manage traffic, theactual management of traffic on the day-ofeventmay differ from what the plan callsfor. Traffic incidents, changing weatherconditions, and other unexpected events canall cause the traffic management plan to bemodestly modified or completely changed.After safety, successfully managing trafficrepresents the reason why stakeholders developedthe traffic management plan in thefirst place and that goal must remain paramount.9EVENT PROFILE POST-EVENT ACTIVITIES DAY-OF-EVENT ACTIVITIES ADVANCE PLANNINGOVERVIEW9-5