a collage of eight photos showing a stakeholder meeting, people boarding a bus, a changeable message sign displaying the message race traffic, cars traversing a roadway where barricades delineate travel lanes, a closed-circuit television camera, a crowd of people standing near a train and traversing a pedestrian overpass, two implementation plans, and three traffic management team personnel gathered around a laptop computer

Managing Travel for Planned Special Events

Chapter One. Background

several automobiles traversing three lanes that connect to a Rose Bowl access road during event ingress with a police cruiser parked in the intersection channelization gore area

Figure 1-1. Planned Special Event Patron Arrival

Definition

A planned special event is a public activity, with a scheduled time and location, that impacts normal transportation system operations as a result of increased travel demand and/or reduced capacity attributed to event staging.

Statement of the Problem

Sources of Congestion

The public has become increasingly sensitive to the impact congestion has on quality of life, citing delays caused by traffic congestion as their top community transportation concern in a recent National survey.⁽¹⁾ Congestion equates to decreased performance and, in turn, economic loss for businesses and trucking companies. Congestion either causes late deliveries or forces truckers to build additional travel time into their itineraries, particularly when making just-in-time deliveries.

Congestion simply refers to a condition where traffic demand exceeds roadway capacity. Capacity measures potential or the maximum, sustainable rate of traffic volume that can traverse a road segment. Congestion results from sudden, significant changes in (1) traffic demand or (2) available roadway capacity, both of which cause demand to exceed capacity. When this occurs, the congestion is considered either recurring or non-recurring based on its causal factors:

Recurring congestion is usually characterized by an increase in traffic demand. Commuter traffic induces congestion at the same time and location weekday after weekday; hence traffic managers can essentially predict when recurring congestion will happen. Recurring congestion reflects the daily, systematic relationship between peak traffic demand rates, inadequate road capacity, and sub-optimal operation of traffic control devices. The latter represents one of the few causes of recurring congestion that affects capacity rather than demand.
Non-recurring congestion happens as a result of an event. The spatial and temporal characteristics, or location and time of an event, may be known in advance, or the event may happen at random with very little or no warning. These events are commonly termed planned and unplanned events, respectively. Congestion causing events, whether planned or unplanned, result in either a reduction in roadway capacity, an increase in traffic demand, or both. Table 1-1 summarizes how these events impact roadway system operations.

Table 1-1a. Congestion Impacts of Planned Events
Event Category	Event-Generated Impact: Traffic Demand	Event-Generated Impact: Road Capacity
Major roadway construction and maintenance	Increases background traffic demand on parallel freeways and arterials.	Closes travel lane(s) or road segments.
Planned special event	Generates new trips and increases traffic demand on all corridors serving the event.	Closes travel lane(s) or road segments to stage event (typically street use events).

Table 1-1b. Congestion Impacts of Unplanned Events
Event Category	Event-Generated Impact: Traffic Demand	Event-Generated Impact: Road Capacity
Traffic incident (e.g., crash, disablement, spilled load, debris)	Causes background traffic diversion to parallel freeways and streets.	Blocks travel lane(s) or road segments.
Emergency road work	Causes background traffic diversion to parallel freeways and streets.	Blocks travel lane(s) or road segments.
Adverse weather (e.g., snow, ice, fog, heavy rain, sun glare)	Decreases traffic demand (potentially).	Reduces vehicle operating speeds and increases headways, thus reducing capacity.
Emergency (e.g., severe weather, natural disaster, terrorism)	Causes evacuations that generate extreme traffic demand.	Renders road segments impassable (potentially).

A planned special event represents the only type of event that can generate an increase in traffic demand and cause a temporary reduction in roadway capacity because of event staging. For example, a parade or bicycle race may require street closures extending over a significant distance, and other events may warrant isolated road closures to accommodate pedestrian flow.

Impact of Planned Special Events

Planned special events can significantly impact travel safety, mobility, and travel time reliability. Mobility and reliability refer to the ease and consistency of travel, respectively. The scope of these impacts represent a function of several event operation characteristics, including attendance, rate of event patron arrival and departure, venue location, and adjacent roadway capacity. The effect and perceived magnitude of mobility and travel time reliability impacts vary by class of transportation system user. Table 1-2 lists the classes of transportation system users whose needs must be accommodated during a planned special event.

Table 1-2. Impacts on Transportation System Users
User Class	User Type	Impact on Users	User Response
Event patron or participant	Local resident Visitor	Event patron demand may cause roadway system congestion.	Event patrons may use another mode of travel.
Non-attendee road user	Local resident Local business Commuter Trucker Emergency services	Commuters and truckers may encounter reduced travel time reliability in corridors serving an event venue. Special event traffic control strategies may impact local residents and businesses not involved with the event. Emergency service providers may experience increased response times during an event.	Non-attendee road users may delay planned trips or divert around a corridor impacted by a planned special event. Emergency service providers mandate the provision of unimpeded emergency access routes to and from the event venue and its surrounding area.
Transit user	Bus Commuter rail	Transit users may realize service impacts on the day-of-event, including reduced availability of parking at transit stations and system capacity conditions.	Preferred parking areas may be set aside for commuters during the days of the event.

Transportation stakeholders place a priority on minimizing impacts to event patron and non-attendee road users and to transit users as well. Event patrons accept a certain level of delay as part of the overall experience of attending an event, but place a high priority on getting to their destination prior to the event start.

Because planned special events are scheduled, transportation and other agencies attempt to influence the schedule to avoid conflict with recurring congestion. Some municipal codes prohibit special events requiring road closures at certain times of the day or week:

For example, Section 447.50 of the Minneapolis Municipal Code states: Downtown area restrictions. (a) No permit shall be granted for a parade/race to be conducted within the downtown area between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. or 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on any day which is not Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday.

Goals of Managing Travel for Planned Special Events

Table 1-3 presents the goals of managing travel for planned special events.

Table 1-3. Planned Special Event Travel Management Goals
Goal	Technique
Achieving Predictability	Perform a multi-modal travel forecast. Define the area and transportation system components impacted. Conduct analyses of parking demand and traffic demand. Identify and correct roadway capacity deficiencies.
Ensuring Safety	Accommodate pedestrians accessing an event via a network of safe walking routes. Minimize pedestrian/vehicular conflicts. Provide unimpeded access routes for emergency services. Prevent congestion-induced secondary incidents.
Maximizing Efficiency	Use all available resources and excess transportation system capacity, including road and transit capacity. Enhance transportation system operations. Deploy incident management strategies to respond and clear traffic incidents.

The potential impact a planned special event has on transportation system operations is often difficult to predict and measure. Periodic planned special events at stadiums and arenas, or similar venues having good access to adjacent high-capacity roadways, may generate highly predictable travel patterns known even by local commuters. But, in many other cases, the characteristics of a planned special event that define the level of event-generated trips, coupled with the event venue location and scope of available transportation system capacity, collectively may yield unpredictable impacts on travel without proper planning and analysis.

Operations, with safety an overarching criteria, during the event can improve transportation system efficiency of operation. With the foreknowledge of a planned special event and the early initiation of planning efforts, practitioners can achieve efficient transportation system operations even with the additional traffic generated at and adjacent to the event venue.

In meeting these goals, the mission of this technical reference involves disseminating a suite of travel management solutions, applicable on both a local and regional level, encompassing the following three broad strategies:

Process strategies include frameworks for facilitating stakeholder coordination, steps for predicting event-generated travel demand and impacts, procedures for developing traffic management initiatives, methods for assessing event impact mitigation proposals, guidelines on implementation activities, protocol for communication, and frameworks for evaluation.
Operations strategies include a range of regulations, traffic and pedestrian control strategies, and transit coordination strategies for operating the transportation system in a manner that fulfills the customer service requirements of event patrons and other road users during a planned special event.
Service strategies include travel demand management policies and other initiatives that strive to improve the utility associated with available travel choices (e.g., mode, vehicle occupancy, and parking destination).

This technical reference emphasizes the need to apply and integrate all possible solutions that benefit the safe and efficient management of travel for a single planned special event or a series of events occurring in a region. On a regional level, a committee on planned special events may adopt process and operations strategies disseminating standard operating procedures. Certain strategies, such as an express/charter bus service, may achieve greater public awareness and success if configured for a series of planned special events. Table 1-4 presents the objectives of this technical reference.

Table 1-4. Technical Reference Objectives
Objective
Describe innovative stakeholder partnerships that facilitate continuous coordination, cooperation, and integration of personnel and equipment resources. Describe processes that stakeholders may adopt to improve current advance planning and day-of-event operations. Provide methods to raise awareness of potential travel impacts to non-attendee road users and the community at-large. Detail new technology applications and successful operations strategies to minimize field personnel requirements, improve travel conditions monitoring, and reduce congestion levels. Identify the advantages of transit use, travel demand management, and accurate, up-to-date traveler information dissemination during the occurrence of a planned special event. Demonstrate the importance of sound traffic management team organization and communication during the day-of-event. Communicate the advantages of integrating post-event evaluation activities into program planning for future planned special events.

Benefits of Successful Planned Special Events

As shown in Figure 1-2, communities and regions have promoted and supported planned special events to boost tourism and fuel local and state economies. Examples include:

a sign and decorations in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin airport that promotes the 2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Week, a lightpost banner in Manhattan Beach, California that promotes a professional volleyball tournament, and a guide sign in Riverhead, New York that promotes a blues festival

Figure 1-2. Community Promotion of Planned Special Events

The filming of "The Fast and the Furious 2," requiring extensive use of freeways and streets in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, brought an estimated $14 million to southeast Florida during the four-month filming.⁽²⁾
The following economic benefits of planned special events were realized by the State of Wisconsin:⁽³⁾
- $11 billion annual industry statewide.
- $2.5 billion annual industry in metropolitan Milwaukee.
- Over $1 billion generated in state tax revenues.
- Over $70 million generated in Federal and state transportation revenues.

Public agencies can enhance the image of their area by adopting a planned, coordinated, and integrated approach toward managing travel for planned special events that minimizes traffic congestion, maintains transportation system reliability, and exceeds the customer service expectations of all road users. These users include event patrons, commuters, truckers, and emergency service providers.

Table 1-5 presents the overall benefits that can be realized through managing travel for planned special events.

Table 1-5. Overall Benefits⁽⁴⁾
Benefit
Reduced delay for motorists attending the planned special event through more active information dissemination, traffic management, and alternate mode use. Reduced delay for motorists not attending the special event through active promotion of alternate routes or modes. Reduced overall traffic demand at or near the special event site through active promotion of alternate routes or modes or dissemination of information, resulting in the cancellation or delay of unnecessary trips. Improved safety through more active traffic management and reduced motorist frustration.

The proactive and coordinated management of travel for planned special events also yields numerous benefits to transportation stakeholders and transportation system operations, as indicated in Table 1-6.

Table 1-6. Benefits to Transportation Stakeholders and System Operations
Benefit
Deployment of new technologies for traffic control and monitoring. Incorporation of new procedures and tactics into everyday traffic/incident management tasks. Upgrade of transportation system infrastructure. Improvement in stakeholder productivity. Promotion of interagency sharing of personnel and equipment resources. Leverage of public support for newly deployed traffic management and transit initiatives. Attraction of new regular transit users and carpoolers. Development of new interagency relationships crossing jurisdictional boundaries. Improvement in communication and trust between stakeholders. Coordination of and participation in regional organizations to influence policy and improve activities for all planned special events. Dissemination of lessons learned and solutions to technical problems that other jurisdictions may encounter in the future. Promotion of stakeholder efforts in the media, as illustrated in Figure 1-3.

A successful planned special event also satisfies community residents and businesses possessing no direct interest in the event. Table 1-7 specifies community benefits.

Table 1-7. Community Benefits
Benefit
Better community recognition. Increased pride and community spirit. Increased awareness of the community as a travel destination. Increased knowledge of potential for investment and commercial activity in the community. Increased potential to attract other special events.

an excerpt of a newspaper article entitled "Home Opener Doesn't Snarl Traffic For Long." Two sentences are highlighted in the article: "officials reported few problems along freeway routes leading to Miller Park Friday" and "Everything went smoothly, said Sgt. Michael Scharlau of the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department."

Figure 1-3. Media Promotion of Stakeholder Efforts (Graphic courtesy of the Wisconsin DOT.)

Literature Review

NCHRP Synthesis 309

A National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) synthesis, Transportation Planning and Management for Special Events, reports on the state-of-the-practice of transportation-related activities associated with the planning and management of special events.⁽⁴⁾ It identifies how agencies are planning, coordinating services, and managing transportation systems for planned special events. Based on a survey of stakeholder practices related to special event planning and management, the synthesis report addresses special event types, involved stakeholders, tools and techniques for managing travel demand and controlling traffic, operations guides, qualitative and quantitative assessment efforts, and funding sources.

FHWA Metropolitan ITS Infrastructure Deployment Tracking

The FHWA maintains an Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) deployment tracking database based on surveys of agencies in the 78 largest U.S. metropolitan areas and encompassing six ITS infrastructure component areas.⁽⁵⁾ A survey on freeway management includes a select number of questions on special event management, including: (1) regional coordination for planned special events, (2) dissemination of information to the public via techniques such as the Internet, television, kiosks, and telephone information systems, and (3) transportation management center (TMC) operations. Below, survey responses for the Year 2002 are presented, summarizing the scope of regional special event planning and application of certain ITS system characteristics to special event traffic management.

Regional Coordination for Planned Special Events

68 percent of surveyed agencies (119 total) participate in a formal multi-agency initiative to proactively plan for and coordinate activities regionally related to special events. Of the agencies that participate in a formal multi-agency initiative:
- 59 percent of surveyed agencies plan to document and coordinate activities, resources, and policies for all special events.
- 36 percent of surveyed agencies have entered into an interagency agreement.
- 64 percent of surveyed agencies participate in a multi-agency team.
73 percent of surveyed metropolitan areas (77 total) have agencies that participate in a formal multi-agency initiative to proactively plan for and coordinate activities regionally related to special events. Of the areas with agencies that participate in a formal multi-agency initiative:
- 63 percent of surveyed metropolitan areas have agencies that plan to document and coordinate activities, resources, and policies for all special events.
- 43 percent of surveyed metropolitan areas have interagency agreements.
- 68 percent of surveyed metropolitan areas have multi-agency teams.

Dissemination of Information to the Public

43 percent of surveyed agencies distribute information on special events to the public.
49 percent of surveyed metropolitan areas have agencies that distribute information on special events to the public.

Transportation Management Center Operations

73 percent of surveyed agencies operate a TMC.
- Of the agencies that operate a TMC, 84 percent indicate that special event traffic management represents a functional capability of their TMC.
78 percent of surveyed metropolitan areas have a TMC.
- Of the metropolitan areas that have a TMC, 82 percent indicate that special event traffic management represents a functional capability of the TMC.

Handbook Overview

Approach

This technical reference covers five phases of managing travel for planned special events. These phases, comprising the core chapters, include:

Program planning encompasses advance planning activities completed months prior to a single, target event or activities related to a series of future planned special events. This level of advance planning involves the participation and coordination of stakeholders serving an oversight role in addition to agencies directly responsible for event planning and day-of-event traffic management.
Event operations planning involves advance planning and resource coordination activities conducted for a specific planned special event. This phase involves stakeholders organized under the event planning team.
Implementation activities represent a transition phase between event operations planning and day-of-event activities. The event planning team and traffic management team work to strategize traffic management plan deployment in addition to conducting necessary equipment testing and personnel training activities.
Day-of-event activities refer to the daily implementation of the traffic management plan in addition to traffic monitoring. Rapid deployment of traffic management plan strategies and tactics, including contingency plans, requires a well-organized traffic management team and communications infrastructure.
Post-event activities cover the evaluation of local and regional transportation operations based on stakeholder debriefings and an analysis of traffic data collected during the day-of-event. Evaluation involves both the traffic management team and event planning team working together to identify successes and lessons learned, and the stakeholder groups may transfer their determinations to the oversight team for consideration and action under the program planning phase.

Table 1-8 describes common stakeholder-generated products under each phase of managing travel for planned special events. The table highlights corresponding major topics that the technical reference covers. Each of the handbook chapters describing a particular step in the sequential process of planning and managing a planned special event represents a stand-alone chapter. Yet, the technical reference provides a smooth transition from chapter to chapter and integrates the chapters through numerous references.

a list of tasks and handbook topics for each of five phases of managing travel for planned special events

Table 1-8. Planned Special Event Management Phases and Key Tasks D

Intended Audience

The successful implementation of a transportation management plan for planned special events results in lessened traffic congestion and improved safety for event patrons and other transportation system users. Successful transportation management also maintains satisfactory mobility levels for residents and businesses in the vicinity of the event venue and preserves the overall reliability of the local and regional transportation system. Achieving this success requires the involvement of both transportation system operators and other stakeholders, representing various interests and disciplines, to meet the needs of the community and region. Three categories of stakeholders that may participate in the coordinated management of travel for planned special events include: (1) event operations stakeholders, (2) community interest stakeholders, and (3) event support stakeholders:

Event operations stakeholders represent the target audience of this technical reference. These stakeholders collectively work toward predicting, mitigating, and measuring the safety, mobility, and reliability impacts of a planned special event on transportation operations through comprehensive advance planning, day-of-event traffic management, and evaluation and monitoring activities. A traffic operations agency, law enforcement agency, and event organizer represent core stakeholders because of the responsibility they bear in developing and implementing a transportation management plan. As with a traffic operations agency, law enforcement contributes to all phases of managing travel for planned special events and involves associated personnel at the administrative, management, and field operations level.

Other key stakeholders include transit agencies and public safety agencies (e.g., fire and emergency medical service). Table 1-9 lists general responsibilities of event operations stakeholders. In many cases, an event predicted to generate significant travel demand across a region will necessitate the cooperation of multiple inter-jurisdictional stakeholders in the affected region.

Table 1-9. Event Operations Stakeholders
Stakeholder	Responsibility
Traffic operations agency	Operates and maintains the transportation system.
Transit agency	Develops specialized transit plans, complementing an event traffic management plan, that detail schedules and necessary equipment and personnel resources.
Law enforcement	Facilitates the safe and efficient flow of traffic through traffic control and enforcement.
Event organizer	Plans the event operations logistics. Funds the deployment of equipment and personnel resources, including reimbursement of public agency resource costs, required on the day-of-event. Hires a private traffic engineering consultant to perform an event feasibility study and prepare a traffic management plan.
Public safety (e.g., fire and emergency medical service)	Ensures adequate provision of emergency access routes to and from the event venue.

Community interest stakeholders ensure and review advance planning and operations activities to manage event-generated travel for the purpose of minimizing impacts on community quality of life and maximizing potential social and economic benefits. Non-transportation agencies and elected officials play an important role in establishing policies, regulations, and initiatives for future planned special events. In fact, these agencies and officials may possess the authority to approve or disapprove a special event permit for an event organizer.
Event support stakeholders support, execute, or adhere to the transportation management plan and initiatives proposed by event operations and community interest stakeholders. These stakeholders include private traffic control vendors, private towing companies, the general public, and automobile and trucking associations. Event support stakeholders and emergency service stakeholders may gain valuable insight on the development of event traffic management plan components, including contingency plans, in addition to strategies for reducing event-generated travel demand.

Organization

Overview of Chapters and Major Topics

This technical reference consists of 15 chapters, the final five of which detail and contrast advance planning and travel management activities for each of the five defined categories of planned special events discussed in Chapter 2.

Table 1-10 lists the technical reference chapters and indicates what chapters cover each distinct phase of special event management. The table shows Chapters 4 through 10, which represent the core chapters of the handbook, encompass all five phases of managing travel for planned special events.

Table 1-10. Handbook Organization
Special Event Management Phase	Handbook Chapter	Handbook Section
	Introduction	Overview
	Chapter 1. Background	Overview
	Chapter 2. Characteristics and Categories of Planned Special Events	Overview
	Chapter 3. Overview	Overview
Program Planning	Chapter 4. Regional and Local Coordination	Advance Planning
Event Operations Planning	Chapter 5. Event Operations Planning	Advance Planning
Event Operations Planning	Chapter 6. Traffic Management Plan	Advance Planning
Event Operations Planning	Chapter 7. Travel Demand Management and Traveler Information	Advance Planning
Implementation Activities	Chapter 8. Implementation Activities	Advance Planning
Day-of-Event Activities	Chapter 9. Day-of-Event Activities	Day-of-Event Activities
Post-Event Activities	Chapter 10. Post-Event Activities	Post-Event Activities
	Chapter 11. Discrete/Recurring Event at a Permanent Venue	Event Profile
	Chapter 12. Continuous Event	Event Profile
	Chapter 13. Street Use Event	Event Profile
	Chapter 14. Regional/Multi-Venue Event	Event Profile
	Chapter 15. Rural Event	Event Profile

To assist the reader in quickly navigating the handbook, each page displays a vertical toolbar that indicates the current chapter and section of the technical reference. As noted in Table 1-10, the sections include: (1) overview, (2) advance planning, (3) day-of-event activities, (4) post-event activities, and (5) event profile. Chapters designated under "event profile" discuss specific categories of special events, detail and contrast advance planning and travel management activities, and communicate recommended policies, guidelines, procedures, and resource applications in a user-friendly format tailored to a specific category of planned special event. In turn, readers can easily extract information and reference sample applications.

User Application

By covering all phases of advance planning and management of travel for planned special events, this technical reference satisfies the information requirements of a wide range of stakeholders. Certain stakeholders may find the majority of handbook chapters pertain to their duties and responsibilities when handling a planned special event. Other stakeholders may only have interest in information disseminated via a few handbook sections. This technical reference recognizes three user groups, each of whom has an identifiable icon featured in the handbook. If a major chapter section contains topics suited to a particular user group, then the icon representing that group will appear on the same line as the section heading.

Three typical user groups, or event operations stakeholders, charged with managing travel for planned special events in jurisdictions across the country include: (1) transportation engineers, (2) law enforcement officers, and (3) event organizers. Table 1-11 displays icons corresponding to each user group.

Table 1-11. Technical Reference User Groups
Icon	User Group
	Transportation engineer
	Law enforcement officer
	Event organizer

The three user groups include:

Transportation engineers include traffic engineers, transit officials, and transportation planners. Traffic engineers may lead event operations planning and day-of-event traffic management activities. Event operations planning activities may include developing and reviewing traffic management plans and formulating traffic signal system timing plans to accommodate anticipated fluctuations in traffic demand. Traffic engineers have a day-of-event responsibility of monitoring and maintaining traffic flow traversing their jurisdiction. Transit officials examine potential public transit incentives in addition to event express bus service. Transportation planners may administer a permit application for a local planned special event.
Law enforcement officers may take responsibility for developing and executing a street traffic management plan. Other potential duties of law enforcement include traffic control and security on the day-of-event, enforcing traffic and parking restrictions, escorting dignitaries to/from the event venue, and enforcing the requirements of a traffic operations agency.
Event organizers initiate the event operations planning phase by notifying stakeholders, through a written request to public agencies or the submission of an event permit application, and assembling an event planning team. The event organizer governs the logistics of the planned special event. The event organizer continually works to maintain interagency coordination in order to meet milestones in the advance planning process and ultimately gain stakeholder approval of the proposed transportation management plan.

References

1. Managing Our Congested Streets and Highways, Report No. FHWA-OP-01-018, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C., 2001, 18 pp.

2. Kelleher, B., "Action on the Highways," Transportation News, Florida Department of Transportation, Vol. 36, No. 1, January 2003, p. 7.

3. Corbin, J., "Strategies to Improve Management of Travel for All Planned Special Events in a Region," Presented at the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., January 12–16, 2003.

4. Carson, J.L. and R.G. Bylsma, Transportation Planning and Management for Special Events, NCHRP Synthesis 309, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, Washington D.C., 2003, 71 pp.

5. "ITS Deployment Tracking", U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, D.C., 2003 [Online]. Available: http://itsdeployment2.ed.ornl.gov/its2002/default.asp. [2003, September 10].

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