Office of Operations
21st Century Operations Using 21st Century Technologies

Long Description: Traffic Management Plan Checklist - Step 2

Step 2. Site Access and Parking Planning (separate plans for ingress and egress)

Assessment: Lot assignment

If Assessment applies:

  • Efficiently distribute the flow of traffic
  • Minimize the superimposition of traffic flow on a single access road section
  • Separate pedestrian, automobile, and bus/taxi/limo traffic
  • Accommodate group needs
Tips/Examples:
  • Factors influencing lot assignment include:
    • On-site parking location
    • Off-site parking location
    • Disabled parking
    • Reserved (VIP/permit) parking
    • Participant parking
    • Valet parking
    • Media parking
    • Employee parking
    • Bus parking
    • Recreational vehicle parking
    • Taxi/limo staging
    • Emergency Vehicle staging

Assessment: Vehicle access and circulation

If Assessment applies:

  • Identify operations strategies that prevent potential congestion on parking area access roads and allow for good circulation on roadways surrounding the event site
  • Evaluate: (1) parking area ingress, (2) pick-ups and drop-offs, and (3) parking area egress

Tips/Examples:

  • Parking area ingress tactics:
    • Right turn circulation pattern
    • Contraflow operation
    • Shoulder utilization
    • Lane channelization
    • Parking area overflow access points
  • Pick-up and drop-off tactics:
    • Use of off-street areas
    • Designation of pick-up/drop-off areas to avoid conflict with primary traffic ingress/egress routes
    • Storage area
  • Parking area egress tactics:
    • Right turn circulation pattern
    • Preservation of adjacent street flow
    • Provision of rapid parking area unloading

Assessment: Parking area design and operation

If Assessment applies:

  • Evaluate operations strategies for processing vehicles at parking area access points
  • Minimize pedestrian / vehicular conflicts inside parking areas.
  • Survey the parking area(s) and mitigate any features (e.g., ditches, sand, and humps) that may unnecessarily slow vehicles traversing a parking area

Tips/Examples:

  • Vehicle processing tactics:
    • Manual transaction
    • Permit display
    • Automated transaction
  • Manual transaction refers to cash transactions made between a driver and human server, and vehicle service times may average as high as 12 seconds
  • Access points to a permit-only parking area operate like a free parking area, and vehicle headways average approx. 4 seconds
  • An automated transaction involves deployment of an electronic fee collection system

Assessment: Parking occupancy monitoring

If Assessment applies:

  • Develop a detail for monitoring parking area(s) occupancy levels for the ingress period so that the traffic management team can make a "lot full" decision at a time when all vehicles between the parking area access point and traveler information devices directing motorists to the parking area (i.e., the pipeline) can still park at the subject lot(s)
  • Determine pipeline capacity by dividing the defined pipeline length (account for multiple travel lanes) by the average spacing of moving vehicles (typically 30-40 feet)

Tips/Examples:

  • Two methods for making a "lot full" decision in the field include: (1) vehicle count at parking area access points and (2) visual inspection
  • The vehicle count method involves conducting a manual or machine count at the downstream pipeline end beginning at the start of parking area load-in to determine the number of vehicles that have entered the parking lot. The following equation defines a "lot full" decision: (Capacity of parking area) - (Vehicle count) - (Pipeline capacity) = 0 (Lot full)
  • The visual inspection method involves the traffic management team or parking operators making a "lot full" decision based on comparing a visual estimate of available parking spaces to the pipeline capacity

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