Traffic Incident Management
Various traffic incident management scenes - heavy traffic after accident, traffic planning, police car blocking road, overturned car on bridge, detour, rescue workers.
Office of Operations 21st Century Operations using 21st Century Technologies

Planned Special Events Preparedness

Preparedness > PSE
community gathering

Unlike traffic incidents, natural disasters, and adverse weather, public agencies typically have access to information on the location, time, duration, and demand expected for a planned special event. Public agencies can exploit this advanced information to minimize the impact these events may have on the general public, motorists, public agencies, and others service providers.

Planning for these events also provides an opportunity for agencies to plan, coordinate, share resources, deploy Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies, and apply proven traffic management techniques to mitigate any possible adverse impacts that may result from these events.

Communities can enhance their image by providing a safe, efficient, and convenient environment for those who travel to and from an event, while at the same time minimizing any congestion-related impacts it may have on other motorists.

Advanced planning and coordination also allows agencies to develop and deploy the operational strategies, traffic control plans, protocols, procedures, and technologies needed to control traffic and share real-time information with other stakeholders on the day of the event.

These capabilities allow agencies to take the initiative to manage and control traffic to accommodate the increased travel demand generated by the event and use the available roadway capacity in the most efficient and effective manner.

  • This advanced planning, management, and control of traffic in support of planned special events are not yet commonly accepted or consistently applied practices. This requires service providers, event operators, and public agencies that normally don't work together to plan and coordinate activities prior to, during, and after an event. It also requires the commitment and allocation of the necessary resources to support these recommended activities and practices.
  • Current practices are typically event specific and may not be performed for all planned special events within a regional or metropolitan area.
  • Improving current practices may require new local initiatives focused on facilitating the advanced planning, coordination, proactive management, and control of traffic for all planned special events within a region or for specific events.
  • Use of these recommended practices provides an opportunity to incorporate these techniques and concepts into the day-to-day policies, procedures, and practices of an agency.

Publications

Outreach Material

  • Managing Travel for Planned Special Events Fact Sheet (HTML, PDF 184KB)
  • Managing Travel for Planned Special Events Tri-Fold Brochure (HTML, PDF 367KB)
  • Presentation (HTML, PPT 15MB)
  • Frequently Asked Questions (HTML, PDF 375KB)

Training

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