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 Three. Overview
Page 6 of 8

Implementation Activities

Implementation activities mark a transition phase between event operations planning and day-of-event activities. Therefore, the phase involves both the event planning team and traffic management team. This phase includes activities key to the success of any planned special event, including implementation plan development, stakeholder review and testing exercises, and personnel resource management and training. The underlying objectives of these activities are to: (1) improve the efficiency of traffic management plan deployment and (2) increase traffic management team preparedness. In turn, this creates a more responsive traffic management team and fluid team operation, thus translating to better transportation system performance on the day-of-event.

Implementation Plan

An implementation plan details the actions required to put a traffic management plan into effect on the day-of-event. Its purpose is to: (1) define personnel assignments that indicate the roles and responsibilities of individual traffic management team personnel on the day-of-event, (2) describe a scenario-based, operations game plan at the management-level, and (3) communicate instructions and organize personnel at the field-level. It is intended for use by individual traffic management team personnel at the command post and in the field. While the traffic management plan indicates how traffic, parking, and pedestrian operations will be managed, the implementation plan describes the what, when, and where in terms of personnel and equipment resource deployment needed to execute traffic management plan provisions.

Table 3-34 presents an implementation plan checklist. All planned actions, even if not explicitly noted in the table, must include what, when, and where instructions. For multi-day or multi-venue events, traffic control strategies and resource deployment can be organized through matrices for easy reference.

Table 3-34. Implementation Plan Checklist
Element	Action
Command post operation	Indicate agencies staffing the command post in addition to the name and schedule of agency representatives. Specify equipment needs and times of delivery and set-up. Computers, networking, temporary phone and modem lines, televisions and radios, dry erase board or flipchart(s), message board, office supplies, furniture. Indicate procedures for accessing the command post (e.g., clearing security) Specify vehicle parking area and helicopter landing area.
Operations timeline	Indicate command post location and hours of operation. State parking, traffic control, and service patrol shifts. State when egress plan goes into effect. Specify parking area and venue gate open/close times. Summarize the location and time (close/reopen) of planned full/partial road closures. Include event schedule, such as event start time, event end time, and significant activities during the event (e.g., parade detail and headline entertainment schedule). State times of sunrise and sunset, if applicable to traffic control measures (e.g., use of portable lighting).
Operations management	Indicate scenario-based criteria for implementing traffic management plan components (e.g., traveler information message sets, traffic flow routing, reversible lane operations, etc.) Include a series of operations details for sequential time segments on the day-of-event. Specify contingency plans – indicate available plans and associated equipment/personnel resource deployments and changes in traffic management team command. Indicate procedure for revising the traffic management plan on the day-of-event. State protocol for terminating traffic and parking management detail. Summarize traffic management plan changes since previous event.
Contact information	State contact information for individual traffic management team members. Home phone, work phone, cell phone, pager number, fax number, e-mail address, unit/radio assignment, rank, detail assignment, vehicle assignment. Include contact information for agencies involved in contingency plan deployment.
Communications	List radio call-sign of traffic management team members. Indicate guidelines and restrictions regarding use of various radio channels or talkgroups (e.g., field-to-field communications, field-to-command post communications, non-event communications).
Traffic management team organization	State agency duties, responsibilities (e.g., traffic control, traffic signal operation, traveler information device operation, etc.), and jurisdiction. Specify highest-ranking agency representative on the day-of-event in addition to mid-level (e.g., zone) managers. Summarize chain of command.
Equipment and infrastructure management	Mandate pre-event equipment check (e.g., CMS operation). Specify locations and quantities of traffic control and other support (e.g., portable lighting) equipment. Indicate equipment owner and, if applicable, power source. Indicate equipment delivery, installation, and removal schedule in addition to personnel assignments. Indicate schedule and location (zone) assignment of available equipment maintenance crews on the day-of-event. Include equipment operating instructions (e.g., remote HAR programming). Indicate temporary static sign locations and descriptions. Specify planned traveler information message sets (e.g., CMS and HAR). Specify personnel responsible for monitoring and programming traveler information devices on the day-of-event. Indicate protocol and personnel charged with implementing different traffic signal timing plans as needed on the day-of-event. Indicate protocol and personnel charged with monitoring traffic surveillance equipment (e.g., CCTV). List available maintenance personnel and equipment resources.
Location-specific traffic and pedestrian control	Indicate agency personnel (e.g., number of staff or individual name, rank, and unit/radio assignment), report date and time. Specify schedule and route of roving service patrols. State protocol and personnel assignments for maintaining unobstructed emergency access routes. Specify task instructions, including traffic and pedestrian flow restrictions and permitted movements (e.g., special allowances for local traffic, buses, etc.). Summarize the location and time (close/reopen) of planned full/partial road closures encompassing a particular location. Provide step-by-step directions in order for substitute personnel to quickly learn protocol. Include explanation, supplemented with graphics, of special event parking area permits and event passes.
Post-event evaluation	Describe components of post-event field personnel debriefing. Time of heavy traffic and pedestrian flow Qualitative assessment of traffic and pedestrian operations at location. Recommendations to improve traffic and/or pedestrian flow at location

Review and Testing

Review and testing allows the traffic management team to identify potential limitations of the traffic management plan prior to the day-of-event. With stakeholder agencies representing various jurisdictions and disciplines, review and testing promotes traffic management team coordination and increases stakeholder familiarity of the duties, responsibilities, and capabilities of other stakeholders.

While a traffic management plan can cover many contingencies, it cannot cover all possibilities. Review and testing can allow participants to see how they handle various scenarios and how varying elements can affect the plan. The testing of the plan should be considered part of the overall training that is needed for traffic management team personnel to become familiar with the plan and their role in it.

Stakeholder Simulation Exercises

The simulation exercise can test important elements such as: (1) interagency communications, (2) deployment of personnel and equipment, and (3) information gathering and dissemination. While stakeholders may conduct the exercise at the venue where the planned special event will occur, much of the plan will involve permanent TMCs or temporary command posts which are in operation before, during, and after the event. Therefore it is important that all of the responsible agencies and TMCs, which may have a role to play during the actual event, be involved with the simulation exercise.

Exercises can take on two different forms:

A tabletop exercise
A full-scale simulation

The purpose of both types of exercises is to: (1) test the written assumptions in the traffic management plan and (2) see what must be changed and how the plan can be improved. No matter how thorough a traffic management plan may be, it can not account for all contingencies. The plan assumes participants will follow the steps laid-out, but individuals make mistakes and equipment may fail. Both the tabletop and full-scale simulation allow the participants to see how they react to those unexpected events.

In both a tabletop exercise and a full-scale simulation, participants receive and use the written traffic management plan and implementation plan as the basis for their actions. Table 3-35 lists elements of a typical exercise.

Table 3-35. Elements of a Stakeholder Simulation Exercise
Element
Identify the stakeholders who will participate in the exercise Distribute copies of the traffic management plan and implementation plan to participants Develop a script for the exercise, including surprise elements, which may not be addressed in the traffic management plan Provide a timeline for the exercise to play-out (the exercise will probably take place in an accelerated timeframe compared to a real-life event) Identify reviewers who will watch the exercise and take notes Provide time to review the exercise Modify the plan based on what was learned

Equipment Testing

A wide variety of equipment may be used to manage travel during a planned special event. This includes communications equipment and equipment in the field, which supports the traffic management plan and helps the traffic management team manage the event. Equipment that may need to be tested includes:

Center to center communications
Center to field communications
Changeable message signs, both fixed and portable
Highway advisory radio
CCTV

While testing is no guarantee that equipment will work as expected, it is useful in identifying unknown problems and potential problems before the event.

Personnel

Traffic management plan implementation on the day-of-event involves personnel duties ranging from trivial tasks to responsibilities critical to the safety and mobility of transportation system users. A traffic management team comprised of supervisors and field staff having experience in assigned duties and responsibilities represents a key to successfully managing travel for planned special events. Experienced personnel should exist at all levels in the traffic management team hierarchy: interagency command, agency command, and field operations. However, supplementing experienced personnel with temporary staff and volunteers on the day-of-event also provides advantages that (1) reduce personnel cost as public agency personnel likely require overtime wages on the day-of-event, (2) permit public agencies to adequately meet other daily staffing requirements, and (3) provide expanded control over transportation operations and greater convenience to event patrons.

In some cases, the amount of personnel required to implement traffic management plan strategies (e.g., traffic/pedestrian control, parking, surveillance) on the day-of-event, coupled with implementation plan assignments such as equipment delivery and installation, may exceed the staffing capabilities of agencies and contractors involved in managing travel for a planned special event. As a result, the recruitment and training of temporary staff and volunteers becomes paramount to the success of day-of-event operations.

Volunteer Recruitment

Prior to initiating volunteer recruiting efforts, event planning team and/or traffic management team stakeholders must determine the number of volunteers needed. This represents a function of the number of potential volunteer work assignments and number of available volunteer supervisors. An alternative approach to recruiting after traffic management plan development involves: (1) soliciting the public, through event advertisements, for volunteers early in the event operations planning phase and (2) developing a volunteer contact list for later reference as conditions warrant.

Because different special event work assignments peak varying levels of interest among volunteers, stakeholders should recruit additional volunteers for certain low-interest assignments. This avoids a potential shortfall relative to volunteers not showing up for work on the day-of-event.

Training Activities

Training for volunteers and temporary staff ensure these personnel: (1) understand the traffic management plan component governing their assignment, (2) disseminate accurate information to event patrons and supervisors, and (3) understand traffic management team operations protocol. Training involves the distribution of reference material, pre-event seminars, or both.

Table 3-36 lists general volunteer training activities. Since most volunteers do not possess relevant experience in managing transportation and parking operations, training activities should address all of the potential decision-making scenarios that volunteers may encounter in addition to day-of-event communications.

Table 3-36. General Volunteer Training Activities
Action
Discuss traffic management team chain of command Summarize job training and required duties Schedule review Present examples of typical and contingency scenarios and how volunteers should react Provide background in customer service Describe field communications infrastructure Discuss proper radio communications protocol Explain types of parking area permits and event passes Discuss strategies for accomodating persons with disabilities (e.g., review disabled accessible routes and site facilities) Review security guidelines Review guidelines for interacting with the media Indicate transportation information and alternatives for volunteer access to event venue site

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