Managing Travel for Planned Special Events

Chapter Three. Overview
Page 4 of 8

Program Planning  

Program planning for planned special events involves activities unrelated to a specific event. This level of advance planning involves the participation and coordination of stakeholders having an oversight role in addition to agencies directly responsible for event operations planning. Products of program planning include establishing new institutional frameworks, policies, and legislation to monitor, regulate, and evaluate future planned special events. Stakeholders utilize program planning initiatives to more efficiently and effectively complete event operations planning, implementation activities, day-of-event activities, and post-event activities for individual, future planned special events. In turn, post-event activities (e.g., participant evaluation, stakeholder debriefing meeting, evaluation report) performed for specific special events provide valuable input for on-going program planning activities in a region or jurisdiction.

Regional Level

Program planning for planned special events on a regional level concerns proactively improving travel management for all planned special events in a region. Program planning requires an institutional framework for generating and managing successful programs and initiatives. Some key considerations include:

• Role of oversight stakeholders
• Policy support
• Regional planned special events program

Stakeholder Roles and Coordination

Program planning for regional planned special events necessitates the involvement and coordination of stakeholders representing multiple jurisdictions. At the program planning level, the stakeholders include:

• Those agencies directly involved in planning and day-of-event travel management for special events. These include law enforcement agencies, transportation departments, transit providers, and regional organizations.
• Others who typically are not involved in transportation management, such as the event organizers and elected officials serving an oversight role.
• Typically, mid-to-upper level agency administrators that collectively form the planned special events oversight team.

The following five-step process represents a way of doing business that facilitates regional coordination when a planned special event occurs:

• Step One: Identify the Stakeholders.
• Step Two: Identify a Lead Agency.
• Step Three: Maintain Communication.
• Step Four: Form Subcommittees.
• Step Five: Continue Communication.

While planned special events may be temporary, and the planning for those events may bring together a group of stakeholders only for that event, ongoing programs and initiatives can be used to address general special event needs on a continual basis. An institutional framework can be created either before an event takes place or based on the planning for a specific special event. This framework can be used on a continuing basis to allow easier coordination among agencies for future events and eliminates the need to re-establish working relationships, which have already been created.

Policy Support

In most instances, transportation and law enforcement agencies have no prohibitions from coordinating efforts with other agencies, especially for events expected to have an impact on that agency. However, there are instances where interagency agreements are helpful, or even necessary, for multi-agency cooperation.

While interagency agreements will vary based on state law and the culture of the agencies, there are some common issues they can address: (1) areas of responsibility and (2) funding issues.

Legislation provides the legal authority for a government agency to take certain actions. In many instances, activities involved in special events planning have already been addressed by legislation.

Regional Planned Special Events Program

A regional planned special events program is an ongoing process designed to address a region's needs for managing special events. It is not a program put in place to address a specific special event, although a specific event may trigger the formation of such a program. The scope of such a program should focus on planned special events of regional significance. If an event can be wholly managed within and by a single agency or jurisdiction (e.g., through a planned special event permit program), then there is no need for the regional plan to come into effect.

The program will put in place the framework for handling regional planned special events. This would include the template for groups created to deal with specific special events, identification of funding to support such planning, and the identification of infrastructure improvement needs in the region to better manage special events.

The stakeholders in a regional program such as this will vary from region to region. Table 3-9 lists organizations that should be considered part of the program. Leadership of the program will vary by region, but the agencies most likely to take the lead include state DOTs, state law enforcement agencies, and MPOs.

Local Level

The development of a formal planned special event permit program marks a key program planning initiative to facilitate stakeholder coordination, compliance with community needs and requirements, and efficient event operations planning. Backed by guidelines and regulations specified in municipal ordinances, the program outlines a defined planning framework and schedule for event organizers and participating review agencies to follow. It represents an agreement between participating public agencies (e.g., transportation, law enforcement, public safety, etc.) to ensure, through planning activities or review, that all planned special events meet a set of mutually agreed upon requirements for day-of-event travel management. A municipal permit represents approval, or agreement between a jurisdiction and event organizer, to operate a planned special event, and it includes provisions outside of travel management.

Some important considerations and applications of planned special event permitting include:

• Permitting proves particularly effective for less frequent continuous events, street use events, and rural events occurring at a temporary venue not having a known spectator capacity. These events place an emphasis on advance planning and public outreach to mitigate traffic operations deficiencies and community impacts.
• Jurisdictions may not require a permit for special events held at permanent venues, such as stadiums, arenas, and amphitheaters.
• Permitting allows jurisdictions the opportunity to engage the event organizer at the beginning of the event operations planning phase.
• Public stakeholders can size-up the event operations characteristics of a proposed event in order to schedule adequate personnel and equipment resources to accommodate the event. Resources may include traffic control, security, and maintenance.
• From the event organizer's perspective, a special event permit application and associated regulations outlines a general approach toward successfully managing travel for the event, facilitates coordination with appropriate stakeholders, and gauges resource requirements on the day-of-event.

Permit Process

Initiation of the permit process for a specific planned special event begins with the submission of a completed special event permit application by the event organizer. The permit application represents a formal proposal by the organizer to stage a planned special event. In some cases, particularly those where the event organizer requests assistance from the jurisdiction in locating a suitable venue location or street use event route, the event organizer and pertinent public stakeholders may interact prior to application submission to review the proposed event and permit process.

Figure 3-5 presents a flowchart summarizing key event organizer and public agency actions throughout the special event permit process, from submitting a permit application to conducting the proposed event.

Figure 3-5. Planned Special Event Permit Process D

The special event permit process serves to scope, schedule, and direct event operations planning activities for proposed events. This reduces unnecessary delay in facilitating stakeholder coordination, developing planning deliverables (e.g., traffic management plan, etc.), reviewing mitigation strategies, and mobilizing personnel and equipment resources required to stage a particular planned special event. Practitioners may expand and contract the process in order to best fit: (1) the area type and involved stakeholders, (2) the special guidelines and regulations unique to a particular jurisdiction, (3) the operations characteristics of a particular event, and (4) the purpose of a particular event, such as community events versus commercial, for-profit events involving event organizers from the private sector.

Application Components

The special event permit application serves to communicate event operations characteristics to a jurisdiction, thus permitting it to impose appropriate impact mitigation requirements and/or advise the event organizer to change event operation parameters. Key items include the event purpose that may signal the need to develop contingency plans in response to possible security threats or demonstrations. Information regarding event history and expected attendance assists in achieving a more predictable event travel forecast. The application should prompt the event organizer to indicate travel demand management initiatives, including use of carpools and other modes of travel.

Supplemental requirements to a special event permit application, required of the event organizer either at the time of initial application submission or after jurisdiction review of the application questionnaire, include:

• Event site plan
• Traffic flow plan
• Traffic control plan
• Parking plan
• Emergency evacuation plan
• Notice of event for affected property owners and residents
• Event advertising brochure
• Hold harmless agreement
• Certificate of insurance

Permitting Requirements

Jurisdictions maintain the following general requirements for planned special events: (1) event restrictions, (2) impact mitigation and traffic control, (3) legal, and (4) funding. As indicated in Table 3-10, the municipal codes of jurisdictions across the Nation specify a wide range of requirements for managing travel for planned special events, all of which become incorporated in the special event permit process.