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

the event operations planning phase. Table3-13 presents common, easy-to-measuremeasures of effectiveness (MOEs) for assessingthe performance objectives that describetraffic operations. The identifiedMOEs represent day-of-event performanceevaluation data, useful for: (1) making realtimeadjustments to the traffic managementplan on the day-of-event, (2) conducting apost-event evaluation of transportation systemperformance, and (3) referencing duringadvance planning for future event occurrences.Table 3-13Measures of Effectiveness for AssessingPerformance ObjectivesMEASURE OFLOCATIONVenueparking areasEFFECTIVENESS• Occupancy and turnover rate• Arrival and departure servicerate• Time to clear parking lotsIntersections • Vehicle delay• Queue lengthFreewaysandstreets• Travel time and delay• Traffic volume to capacityratio• Traffic speed• Number and location ofcrashes and other incidents• Traffic incident clearancetimePlanning Schedule and DeliverablesFigure 3-7 illustrates a high-level event operationsplanning schedule for an eventplanning stakeholder group. The figure listsadvance planning activities and potentialstakeholder meetings and public hearings ina timeline relative to the planning deliverables.The schedule indicates other stakeholderplanning initiatives, such as the developmentof a specialized transit plan toreduce event traffic demand.The planning schedule provides a generictimeline, recognizing that actual event operationsplanning schedules vary considerably.For instance, some major, rovingplanned special events, such as the U.S. GolfOpen, require an event operations planningphase spanning more than one year.Public OutreachPlanned special events that may impact adjacentneighborhoods and businesses usuallyrequire public involvement to address relatedconcerns. The public represents individualresidents, businesses, and associatedcommunity groups. Public outreach activitiesinitiated early in the event operationsplanning phase can reveal important issuesthat local residents and businesses mayhave. Specific neighborhood impact issuesinclude heavy traffic demand on local streetsand event patron use of available local onstreetparking. Soliciting these concernsthrough public involvement, and addressingthe issues in the planning process, can improverelations and day-of-event operations.The event planning team and public stakeholdersshould identify potential problemsprior to the development of the traffic managementplan. These problems can be identifiedby first understanding the event scopewith consideration given to currentneighborhood traffic and parking restrictions,traffic management plans deployedduring past planned special events, and identifiedproblems experienced during pastevents. With this information, the publicstakeholders can make informed decisionsand provide valuable input to the eventplanning team.3-20