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

• The traffic management team likely includesstakeholder representatives involvedin managing travel for a particularstreet use event type for the first time.To ensure successful traffic managementplan deployment, the traffic managementteam must adopt a formal managementprocess and establish an interagencycommunication structure and protocol tosupport day-of-event operations.• Other essential team management considerationsinvolve (1) the designation ofan Incident Commander for the plannedspecial event and (2) the set up of a temporary,multi-agency command post ator near the event site.• Traffic management team officialsshould anticipate enacting modificationsto the traffic management plan duringthe street use event.• Surveillance information and performanceevaluation data define transportationoperation conditions and, thus, influencedecision-making at a day-ofeventbriefing.• Due to the challenge of estimating eventgeneratedtraffic in the event feasibilitystudy, day-of-event briefings should occurat frequent intervals during event ingressoperations. Moreover, trafficmanagement team officials should conductan expanded briefing prior to theend of the event in order to reassess thetraffic management and implementationplan for egress operations, taking intoconsideration traffic and pedestrian demandobserved during ingress in additionto traffic and transit operations onalternate routes.• The collection and evaluation of transportationsystem performance dataproves valuable in guiding decisionmakingnot only on the day-of-event butalso for recurring street use events (e.g.,annual parades or street races). Stakeholderscan archive raw data for use infuture feasibility studies, and variousevaluation measures can identify specificareas that require improvement for future,similar events using the same route.• The traffic management team must exercisegreat care in collecting performanceevaluation data in order to ensure dataquality and consistency.POST-EVENTACTIVITIESAll of the primary products of this phase,particularly participant evaluations and posteventdebriefings, apply to evaluating transportationoperations for street use events.Given the infrequent occurrence of street useevents coupled with the scarcity of travelforecast data, post-event activity results representa key resource in planning for futurestreet use events in a region.Table 13-5 presents a checklist of post-eventactivities for street use events. The posteventactivities section of this handbookprovides detailed information on commontechniques, special considerations, and recommendedprotocol that facilitate the activitieslisted in the table.Some distinguishing considerations of thisevent category during the post-event activitiesphase include:• In regard to participant evaluation, streetuse event patron travel surveys yield importantinformation and statistics thatcan assist practitioners in (1) improvingthe accuracy of future street use eventtravel forecasts and (2) developing traveldemand management incentives (e.g.,public transit incentives and express/charterbus services) for similarevents.13-8