ATSSA Signal November December 2020

The Signal | November/December 2020 27 Innovation Tennessee Department of Transpor- tation (TDOT) and the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) developed strategies for protecting the back of the queue and promoting safer behavior farther upstreamof themerge. These strategies involve using contractor pay items to maintain the presence of advance warning vehicles on freeways to alert high-speed traffic of queues approaching. This array of approaches to creating safer conditions around merge sites gives agencies a toolbox of strategies they can use based on a project’s budget, loca- tion, size, and other factors. Case Study 6: South by Southwest Planned Special Event South by Southwest (SXSW) is a 10-day event series that brings concerts, films, gaming, and conferences toAustin, Texas. Since it started in 1987, the event has grown in popularity, and now brings an estimated 200,000 people to the city of Austineachyear.Withmany events taking place in the downtown area, this requires careful planning to protect the safety of motorists and pedestrians amid higher levels of street use. As a city that hosts more than 130 events each year of vari - ous sizes, Austin has lots of experience creating traffic control plans that reflect the different needs of these events. For SXSW alone, city traffic engineers implement eight traffic control plans throughout the duration of the event. The plans detail traffic control equip - ment requirements, road closures, street detours, pedestrianprotection strategies, and bicycle safety provisions. Through its experience, the city has learned valu- able lessons about implementing traffic control in a congested downtown during a large event. Some of the policies that have come from these lessons include: • Requiring all street closures to maintain a 25-foot clearance for first responders and emergency vehicles at all times. • Ensuring there is adequate parking to avoid traffic queuing near event venues. • Replacing any handicap parking blocked on a street closure elsewhere and maintaining a temporary pathway on sidewalk closures to accommodate wheelchairs. • Using Dynamic Message Signs to warn drivers of closures. Communication is a keypart of successful traffic control during events. Thismeans clearly communicating route detour plans and other information. For SXSW in 2019 (the 2020 event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Austin published a “Mobility Guide” that clearly outlined the pedestrian zones created by street closures, as well as bicycle routes, ride-hailing pick-up and drop-off zones, bikeshare, dockless scooter and pedicab staging areas, andpublic transit locations. During special events, drivers can often be distracted or confused by new traffic patterns and heightened foot traffic on the streets. Austin officials learned over the years that this makes it important to share information on street closures early andoften, and touse larger, brighter devices toget drivers’ attention. For exam- ple, the city uses 42-inch cones instead of 28-inch cones to separate pedestrian from vehicular traffic. The larger cones are not only more visible, but also stay in place better. Water-filled barriers are also used to separate the two streams of traffic. In addition, the city’s police department helps protect the perimeter of the event and prevent vehicles from entering pedestrian zones.  This diagram shows the Minnesota DOT dynamic early merge typical application, a work zone merge strategy.