COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The Rose Bowl, the Macy's Day Parade, and the Nation's numerous marathons, golf tournaments, and county fairs are just some of the planned special events that are held throughout the country every year. Managing travel to these and other events will allow event patrons to enjoy themselves from the moment they leave home. In addition, a well-designed transportation plan for these events accommodates the needs of the nearby residents and businesses.

This course provides practitioners with a working knowledge of the techniques and strategies they may wish to use for the successful planning and operation of a specific planned special event. Practitioners will gain an understanding of the collective tasks facing multidisciplinary and inter-jurisdictional stakeholder groups charged with developing and implementing solutions to acute and system-wide problems affecting travel during a special event. Instructors will identify all potential tasks and stakeholder activities conducted within individual phases of managing planned special events. The course will refer to FHWA's Managing Travel for Planned Special Events Handbook and guide participants on how to apply key concepts in the handbook. The handbook in CD format is provided with the course materials.

NOTE: See FHWA-NHI-133099 for the 2-day version of the course, which will provide scenario-based exercises and practices in a workshop format.

OUTCOMES:

Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:

• Name the main categories of planned special events
• State key phases of managing travel for planned special events
• Identify the goals of managing travel for planned special events
• Describe the benefits of proactively developing plans designed to manage travel for planned special events
• Describe the purpose and value of an action plan for managing travel for a specific planned special event
• List key components of an action plan
• Identify key factors that influence the potential effect a planned special event may have on the performance of the surface transportation system
• List key components of a traffic management plan

TARGET AUDIENCE:

This course and the 2-day workshop are designed for any individual engaged in or responsible for directing agency resources related to the following five key phases associated with managing travel for planned special events: (1) program planning, (2) event operations planning, (3) implementation activities, (4) day-of-event activities, and (5) post-event activities. The 1-day introductory course is for individuals with limited or no experience with applying the recommended concepts and techniques in all of the phases involved with managing travel for a planned special event. Participants could include traffic engineers and technicians, transportation planners, managers/supervisors, transit planners and operations supervisors, transportation management center staff, law enforcement personnel, public safety transportation coordinators (e.g., fire, emergency medical personnel, etc.), public information specialists, event operators (e.g., parking management, traffic control, etc.), emergency management personnel, consultants, and post-secondary students and faculty.

If you have questions about this NHI training, please contact NHI at nhicustomerservice@dot.gov or 877.558.6873.