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 Four. Regional and Local Coordination
Page 4 of 4

Infrastructure Support

Technology Applications

While the most critical aspect of managing travel for planned special events is the coordination of the many stakeholders involved, technology lends an assisting hand to the effort. Technology is fast becoming a mainstay in every aspect of transportation, from road maintenance and snow removal to incident management and emergency evacuation. Special event management is no different in this regard. The variety of technologies and their application serve to assist managers in both informing travelers of an upcoming event as well as monitoring and managing the event in real-time.

Most technology applications, as they relate to travel management, fall under the category of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). ITS is comprised of a number of technologies, including information processing, communications, control, and electronics. These technologies are comprised of tools that can be deployed permanently for uses other than planned special events or deployed temporarily during the special event only. Table 4-15 discusses these technologies and implementation alternatives in more detail. Joining these technologies to our transportation system will save lives, save time, and save money.⁽⁶⁾ In its infancy, ITS addressed incident management, but over time, it has become an application of management strategies to improve mobility in everyday responsibilities of transportation managers of various modes. Mobility may be defined as ability and knowledge to travel from one location to another using a multi-modal approach. ITS not only benefits the transportation managers, but other service providers such as emergency service providers (e.g., police, fire, ambulance) and support providers such as towing services. In short, ITS has become a significant enabler for operating and managing the transportation network. ITS is a tool for transportation managers, and as such, it augments the many non-technical activities to plan and manage an event.

Table 4-15. Planned Special Event Technology Applications
Item	Functions	Deployment	Application	Benefit
Detectors	Traffic Management	Permanent – in field. Portable – on trailers for temporary deployment.	Provides the managers at the Transportation Management Center (TMC) with reliable, real-time information on conditions in the field. Collects various data, but the most common are vehicular or travel speed, volume and occupancy. Includes inductance loop detectors and infrared or ultrasonic detectors placed in, over, or beside the highway. Uses portable detection systems installed on trailers that allow for locating the technology anywhere in the event area that managers want to survey.	Provides a status of real-time traffic conditions on the highway to managers so they may adapt their plans as conditions warrant.
Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV)	Traffic Management	Permanent – in field. Portable – on trailers or permanent structures for temporary deployment.	Consists of one of the oldest and most reliable methods of surveying the network in real-time. Uses cameras installed in the field to monitor conditions in real time. Allows systems to be located temporarily for the event using trailer-mounted rigs. Whether permanent or portable, provides managers at the TMC with real-time video of conditions on the highway, allowing them to adapt their plans accordingly.	Provides managers instant information on the status of the highway, transit station, or pedestrian mall to managers to allow them to react quickly to issues, thereby minimizing impacts to users.
Transportation Management Center (TMC)	Traffic and Transportation Management	Permanent. Portable – in mobile trailer or van. Virtual – a single person connected to the central systems from any remote location.	Serves as the nerve center where the event managers from various disciplines, transportation and other, work together to ensure close coordination. Often includes a "situation room" where the event managers work, all the time being in contact with the control room. Utilizes many technological tools at the TMC including: (1) map displays showing real-time traffic and transit conditions, (2) video display walls, (3) changeable message sign, (4) closed-circuit television control systems, (5) telephone and radio communications to communicate with their field liaisons, and (6) incident management and traffic signal control systems. In most cases, consists of a government agency facility, but in some specialized cases, such as at stadium venues, the venue itself may house this coordination center.	Provides a single location where all the managers of the agencies involved with the special event can work face-to-face and be able to communicate with their respective operators and field personnel.
Mobile Telephone	Traffic Management Traveler Information	Portable.	Provides common form of communication between event managers and field personnel. Provides real-time traffic conditions to managers (i.e., manual detection) and permits receipt of real-time traffic conditions information through a paging service or by dialing into a telephone information system (see below).	Allows managers to stay in communication with their field personnel at all times via cell phone. As a traveler information device, transmits information on real-time conditions to digital telephones equipped to receive text messages. There is a large potential market for this form of traveler information. Requires timeliness since 3rd party Information Service Providers (ISPs) are used.
Personal Digital Assistants	Traveler Information Traffic Management	Portable.	Sends real-time traffic conditions to pagers registered to receive the traveler information. Allows two-way pagers (e.g., Blackberry™) to be used by field personnel to report problems or by travelers to do the same.	Has a large potential market for this technology for traveler information. Requires timeliness since 3rd party ISPs are used.
Internet	Traveler Information Advertising	Permanent. Accessible from any location with connectivity.	Permits dissemination of information regarding new traffic patterns, restrictions, etc. (along with other information regarding the event) well in advance of the date(s) of the event. Provides real-time information regarding the travel conditions along the affected routes, incidents that are impacting traffic flow, and available parking. Aims to reach travelers before they commence their trip.	Reaches large audience of pre-trip travelers. Offers subscription e-mail service to notify traveler of an alert on their preferred routes. As a rule, provides free service with the subscription to an ISP.
Changeable Message Sign	Traveler Information Advertising	Permanent – in field. Portable – on trailers for temporary deployment.	Informs travelers (en-route) prior to the upcoming event of its expected impact, infrastructure changes (e.g. road or lanes closures, parking restrictions). Provides real-time traveler information during the event (e.g., roadway conditions, incidents, parking availability).	Reduces congestion by informing motorists in advance of the event so they may alter their routes or mode choices. Informs en-route travelers of potential problems such as full parking areas.
Highway Advisory Radio	Traveler Information	Permanent – in field. Portable – on trailers for temporary deployment.	Similar to CMS, informs en-route motorists of an impending problem ahead. Typically uses warning signs to inform motorists that an important message is being broadcast. Allows messages to be controlled from a remote location, such as a TMC. Technologically, consists of a low-power (e.g., 10-watt) transmitter located near the roadside.	When applied correctly, provides significant benefit to en-route motorists who must be advised of a traffic incident or congestion ahead.
Telephone Information System	Traveler Information Traffic Management	Permanent – call center remains at a fixed location.	Provides a phone-in service to provide real-time traffic condition information to en-route and pre-trip travelers. Stores real-time conditions in a database. Callers, with the help of computerized telephony, are routed to a recording of, or a live operator stating real-time conditions on the segment of highway requested by the caller. As a national 511 initiative, serves as both a traveler information and traffic management tool, in that it provides current traffic conditions to callers as well as allows callers to report incidents on the network.	Serves as a very useful tool in providing current traffic conditions to travelers. Often can be an expensive undertaking. Has generated a number of success stories during the 511 program's short life.
Traffic Signal System	Traffic Management	Permanent – Closed Loop Signal Systems. Permanent – Centrally controlled traffic signal systems. Permanent – Centrally controlled adaptive signal systems.	Signal systems are commonly installed along arterial streets to optimize traffic flow and minimize delay. Closed Loop Signal Systems and Centrally controlled signal systems allow system operators to download and implement special signal timing plans for special event management. These plans will optimize traffic operations during event ingress and egress. Adaptive traffic signal systems, due to a high level of detectorization and sophisticated system programming, will adjust to event-generated traffic flows and optimize traffic operations during event ingress and egress. With adaptive signal systems, the engineering of event timing plans is largely accommodated by the system. However, adaptive systems are considerably more expensive to install than either Closed Loop or centrally controlled systems.	Increases the efficiency of the street network and reduces the delay on the network.
Parking Information Systems	Traffic Management	Permanent.	Outfits parking lots and garages with detection and surveillance technology to determine the available number of spaces. Collects information via detection and surveillance technology that is then processed by algorithms in computer systems, and can determine what space is available, using actual counts and predictive algorithms. The parking status is then conveyed to signs at the entrance or to an advanced traffic management system to be placed on CMSs or broadcast on HAR or commercial radio. At arenas or stadiums, alerts motorists not to exit from a freeway to a parking lot if it is full, and directs them to available parking locations.	Reduces the circling pattern of vehicles in a downtown area by informing motorists of the unavailability of parking spaces.
Commercial Radio or Television Stations	Traveler Information	Permanent. Accessible from any location with connectivity.	Broadcasts traffic reports on a regular basis, typically during peak traffic periods or periods of special events. The information is received from aerial spotters or advanced traffic management systems.	If broadcasted in a timely manner, reaches the most travelers and provides them with information to change their route or mode to ensure the most efficient network for prevailing conditions.

At one time, ITS was characterized as technology looking for a problem. Over the years, transportation managers realized the need to first identify needs and problems, and then associated solutions, usually technological, to those needs. As such, ITS applications are grouped into services they can provide, or more simply as functions. In the realm of managing planned special events, there are a number of functional areas that technology can support. The following sections describe these functional areas in greater detail.

Traffic Management

Traffic management is the most common function associated with special event planning and management. It includes the real-time detection, surveillance, and management of traffic conditions. In a typical event management scenario, managers and operators would monitor traffic, pedestrian, and parking conditions in real-time using various technologies, and modify control strategies such as modifying traffic signal and ramp meter timing, transit priority, opening gates for high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane access, to name just a few. This function also forms the basis for collecting much of the information communicated to travelers. There are a number of specific management strategies that encompass traffic management:

Arterial traffic management differs considerably from that of the freeway. While the basics are similar – detect or survey, verify, respond and inform – the strategies and tools are not. As a rule, streets do not have any available capacity compared to the using of a freeway shoulder, for instance. Parking can be removed, but there is an economic and social price to pay to remove parking. Two-way streets can be made to operate in one direction, but this, too, can come at significant cost.

Successful arterial traffic management results from utilizing every bit of roadway capacity and adapting to changing traffic conditions. Typically, streets are managed by traffic signal systems, and one of the most beneficial signal strategies for planned special events is the use of modified timing plans to optimize traffic operations during event ingress and egress. Several strategies, having various levels of complexity, exist for managing traffic signal systems on arterial highways. The best strategies available for special event management include: (1) remote modification of the system, (2) individual signal timing in response to changing conditions, and (3) highly sophisticated adaptive control systems, which, due to a higher level of data acquisition and system programming, automatically adapt to changing traffic flows. Closed Loop Signal Systems, which are relatively inexpensive and are becoming widely used, offer a means of implementing planned system timing plans designed for a particular special event. Individual signals and system timing can be monitored and modified remotely from a transportation management center or any other location equipped with a personal computer and modem.

The more sophisticated centrally controlled traffic signals have a fixed communication system between the traffic signals and a control center. The traffic signals and signal systems under control are constantly monitored. These systems generally have a higher level of programming sophistication then the Closed Loop Systems. Planned special event management is accommodated in much the same way as with Closed Loop Systems, with special timing plans being downloaded into the system in response to event conditions. The timing plans are configured in advance, but as with Closed Loop Signal Systems, can be modified from a transportation management center in response to changes in the field.

Adaptive control systems represent the most sophisticated traffic signal systems. These systems require considerably more detector input and communication ability. Adaptive control systems rely on intricate software packages to produce an ever-evolving signal timing plan. These systems have the capability to continuously adapt to changing traffic patterns, thus optimizing traffic flow. With adaptive traffic signal systems it would not be necessary to download special signal timing plans in order to manage a special event. The adaptive traffic signal systems would automatically adapt to changes in traffic caused by additional event-generated traffic.

Ramp management represents a freeway strategy that controls the amount of traffic entering and exiting a freeway in order to maintain or increase its efficiency. It is typically provided by means of metering or closing ramps. The theory behind metering is that the rate at which vehicles enter a freeway is controlled, reducing turbulence at ramp junctions where most congestion occurs. This, in effect, improves the efficiency of the mainline freeway, thus reducing a vehicle's overall trip time. Ramp closure is rarely used as a long-term solution, but can be implemented when the capacity of an entrance or exit ramp is exceeded and the resulting queues jeopardize safety.
Lane use management is a process used to maximize benefits and use of existing pavement, and improve the safety and efficiency of freeway operations. Lane use management is typically exercised through use of signs (static and dynamic), temporary traffic control devices, economic incentives and disincentives, and law enforcement. Lane use management includes designating certain lanes for the use by a particular class of vehicles (e.g., buses, carpools), the use of shoulders as a traveled lane during peak periods, contra-flow lanes, reversible lane control, and lane use control. Lane use control uses dynamic signing to indicate whether a lane is open (green arrow pointing down over a lane), closed (red "X" over a lane), or is closed ahead (a diagonally cocked color arrow over the lane).⁽⁷⁾
Incident management represents an operational approach used on both freeways and arterials that employs all of the available resources, including human and technological, to identify, manage, and clear incidents from a freeway in a quick and effective manner. In the transportation management center, operators utilize networks of closed-circuit television cameras, vehicle detection sensors, incoming 911 or 511 reports, incoming media reports, and mobile reports (from service patrols, police, maintenance personnel, and motorists) to monitor, verify, and determine the scope of incidents to quickly dispatch the appropriate emergency response personnel and equipment. This saves valuable time when treating the injured and minimizes the effects incidents have on traffic conditions. After field personnel arrive at the incident scene, TMC operators continue to monitor the incident and conditions surrounding the incident to inform travelers of traffic conditions.⁽⁷⁾
Parking management facilitates improved and sustained mobility – moving traffic through a location quickly, with little delay, and only once. Parking management supports effective mobility by managing parking facilities. In this discipline, systems monitor and survey the available capacity of parking facilities, both surface lots and garages, and communicate the availability or non-availability of spaces to motorists. In doing so, motorists do not congest the highway network by traveling from parking location to parking location in hopes of finding an available space.

Traveler Information

To ensure the successful management of a special event, it is vital to communicate with travelers to inform them of anticipated (future) and current conditions on the network:

One goal is to provide the conditions information to en-route travelers so they may alter their route or mode, and to pre-trip travelers so they may alter their trip planning. Information that can be provided includes current traffic conditions, congestion, lane or turn restrictions, HOV restrictions, alternate routes, parking availability, and road closures and the relevant time periods.
A second goal is to inform the public of the event well enough in advance to allow intended travelers, whether event attendees or not, to change their travel habits prior to the event.

Various means and technologies are used to disseminate information to the public. Information is provided to:

Pre-trip travelers via websites, media broadcasts, and mobile communication devices (e.g., personal digital assistants, pagers, and cell phones).
En-route travelers via roadside devices such as changeable message signs and highway advisory radio, and in-vehicle via commercial radio.
Both pre-trip travelers and en-route travelers through mobile phones, web-enabled wireless phones, pagers and personal digital assistants (PDA).

In support of these functions, there are many technologies in the realm of ITS that have been incorporated for special event management. Not all of these are a single technological device, nor are all of the parts provided by the managing agency alone.

Funding Sources

Current funding practice typically favors building new or rehabilitating existing transportation facilities over operational improvements, such as freeway management systems. A key reason is that agencies do not consider operations as a distinct line item in their budget. Freeway management systems require both capital and maintenance funding. This topic has been under discussion for several years, and few agencies have been willing to attempt new approaches.⁽⁷⁾

Involvement by the freeway practitioner in funding processes and decisions cannot be over-emphasized. As noted in the Millennium Paper prepared by the Transportation Research Board Freeway Operations Committee, "If funding for deployment of freeway management systems and programs, and their ongoing operations and expansion, is not budgeted and the necessary resources allocated, the freeway investments will deteriorate and eventually become useless."⁽⁸⁾

Funding for ITS initiatives always has been a challenge and is tied in closely with how well we sell the concept of freeway operations and management. Because of tighter controls on money and a never-ending list of ways to spend it, there will continue to be challenges in the search for new sources of funding to continue expanding the existing infrastructure. Such new concepts as partnerships between the private and public sectors, outsourced design/build/operate contracts for transportation infrastructure projects, and user-pay scenarios will bring about new opportunities for funding. Expanding advertising, sponsorship, and "adopt-a-highway" plans to include traffic management will present options for funding operations. Partnerships to sell or share data and video signals will continue to provide new opportunities.⁽⁸⁾

The authority for transportation decision-making is dispersed among several levels, or "tiers", of government, and often between several agencies with each governmental level. The concept of special event management needs to be considered and supported at each of the different tiers noted below:⁽⁹⁾

The national tier involves the authorizing legislation that establishes and provides direction, priorities, and resources for the federal regulations, policies, programs, and research that is initiated or implemented.
The regional/statewide tier involves the appropriate strategic transportation planning, programming, and coordination efforts that include a longer-range time horizon (10–20 years). Statewide and regional transportation planning is the structured process followed by states, metropolitan planning organizations, municipalities, and operating agencies to design both short and long-term transportation plans. Products are project-oriented, typically providing the Statewide and Regional (Constrained) Long Range Plan (LRP), Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), regional Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), and Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP). While the process has historically focused on capital projects, it is now recognized that the statewide/regional transportation planning process must take management and operations of the transportation network, and the ITS – based systems that support operations, into consideration. This is particularly true given that ITS appears to be losing its special funding status that it enjoyed in ISTEA and TEA-21. The current trend to "mainstream" ITS (and operations) into the traditional decision-making process of transportation planning means that operations and ITS deployments will be increasingly funded through regular sources and compared with traditional transportation components, such as road widening and new construction. There is consequently a need to strengthen the ties between management and operations, ITS, and the transportation planning process.
The agency tier is where the infrastructure comprising the surface transportation network (e.g., freeways, bridges, tunnels, streets, rail lines, rolling stock, traffic control/management devices) is typically owned. This level develops a multi-year program and budget that defines resources and commitments for a three to 10 year time frame, with updates every year or two. It is at this tier where priorities, budgets, and allocation of resources are established. From the perspective of freeway management and operations, it is at the agency level where the planning, design and implementation activities for the freeway management program (i.e. special event) take place. It is important that the process to develop the ITS – based strategic plan (or any such focused plan or project) support the overall transportation planning process; not compete with it. Moreover, the end products of these "focused" processes can and should be used to feed information back into the overall transportation planning process.

References

1. "Regional Transportation Operations Collaboration and Coordination," Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C., 2002 [Online]. Available: http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/jpodocs/repts_te/13686.html. [2003, August 12].

2. "Traffic Incident Management Self Assessment Guide," Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C., 2002 [Online]. Available: http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/incidentmgmt/tim_selfassess.htm. [2003, August 12].

3. Traffic Manual, Washington State Department of Transportation, Olympia, Washington, March 2002, 182 pp.

4. Special Events Permit Requirements and Guidelines, City of Miami Beach Office of Arts, Culture, & Entertainment, Miami Beach, Florida, n.d., 19 pp.

5. Festivals & Events: Policies & Procedures, City of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, September 1999, 49 pp.

6. ITS America website, www.itsa.org.

7. Federal Highway Administration, "Freeway Management and Operations: State–of–the–Practice White Paper", January, 2003.

8. "Freeway Operations in 2000 and Beyond", Members and Friends of the TRB Committee on Freeway Operations.

9. Descriptions of tiers from material found in, "Integrated Surface Transportation Systems: The Role of Transportation Management Centers"; Obenberger, J. and Kraft, W.; October 2001.

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