TRANSPORTATION PLANNING FOR A LARGE SPECIAL EVENT: THE WOODSTOCK `94 EXPERIENCE

G N. Hansen

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1996

Subject Area

operations - capacity, operations - traffic, land use - planning, policy - parking, economics - appraisal/evaluation

Keywords

Transportation planning, Traffic volume, Traffic control, Special events, Permits, Parking capacity, Parking, Multimodal transportation, Multimodal systems, Implementation, Flexibility, Evaluation

Abstract

Saugerties, New York, was the second-largest city in that state for 5 days in 1994 while rock and roll fans temporarily invaded the tranquil community for the Woodstock 1994 Festival. A detailed transportation plan, which had been developed over a 10-month planning period, proved worth the effort as the "1960s" massive traffic jams did not reappear. This article describes the exhaustive permitting process, transportation plan components, and plan implementation. The six guiding goals in developing the plan were: 1) to develop a multimodal transportation plan; 2) to disperse the traffic demand geographically; 3) to disperse traffic demand temporally; 4) to tightly control festival-associated traffic; 5) to develop a flexible and adaptable plan, allowing for contingencies; and 6) to consider and allow for local circulation of residents and business owners. The article concludes with a "What Really Happened" section in which some of the positive and negative outcomes of the event in terms of transportation are discussed. Overall, the transportation plan was considered a success.

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