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

esponders determine the resources and levelof effort required to manage traffic during aplanned special event:• A new chapter included in the proposedamendments to the 2000 Manual on UniformTraffic Control Devices(MUTCD), entitled “Control of TrafficThrough Traffic Incident ManagementAreas,” defines an incident as follows: (3)A traffic incident is an emergency roaduser occurrence, a natural disaster, or aspecial event that affects or impedes thenormal flow of traffic.The proposed MUTCD amendment classifiestraffic incident severity by durationof incident. Incident classificationlevels include:o Major – expected duration of morethan 2 hours;o Intermediate – expected duration of30 minutes to 2 hours; ando Minor – expected duration under 30minutes.Planned special events having a durationof two hours fall within the classificationof “major incident.”• The Colorado Department of Transportation(DOT) – Region 6 maintains the followingcriteria for classifying a plannedspecial event as a Level III Modified Incident,the highest Region 6 traffic incidentseverity level: special or plannedevents that have major impacts. (4)Planned Special Event SeverityIt is important to recognize that the impactof a planned special event on traffic andtransit operations depends on a combinationof several dynamic factors. Collectively,planned special event impact factors differfrom those considered in determining theseverity of other types of planned and unplannedevents.As illustrated in Figure 2-5, the three corefactors include travel demand, road/site capacity,and event operation. Available resourcesand external factors represent secondaryaspects that also affect the impact aplanned special event has on transportationsystem operations. Key considerations include:• Travel demand refers to the expectednumber of event patrons and their arrivaland departure rates. Modal split has asignificant influence on the level ofevent impact, particularly on traffic operations.Event patrons may travel to theevent via personal vehicle, transit, walking,or a combination of modes. Aplanned special event travel forecast involvesestimating travel demand magnitude,travel demand rate, and modalsplit.• Road/site capacity concerns the availablevenue access and parking backgroundcapacity in addition to the capacityof roadways and transit serving theevent venue. Capacity must take intoaccount: (1) background parking occupancyin parking areas serving the eventvenue and (2) volume of backgroundtraffic that normally traverses the roadsystem serving the event venue. Capacityinfluences travel demand to a limitedextent, as “seasoned” event patrons insome locales may choose to use transitto access an event venue, because of severetraffic congestion experienced inthe past, although they may not representregular transit users.2EVENT PROFILE POST-EVENT ACTIVITIES DAY-OF-EVENT ACTIVITIES ADVANCE PLANNINGOVERVIEW2-9