Planning ensured a safe, efficient driving experience during one of year's biggest events

By Dallas Hammit
State Engineer/Deputy Director for Transportation

The Super Bowl recently put Arizona in the spotlight. Leading up to the big event, as fans were getting ready for game day, ADOT was prepping for the increased traffic that multiple related events would bring to our freeways.

The planning that was involved is certainly noteworthy and I want to share with you how ADOT, along with many other agencies, worked for months to ensure a safe, efficient experience for drivers.

Some of that planning included a number of pregame meetings and participation in a series of “tabletop exercises” designed to show how all the agencies involved would respond to a variety of scenarios. During Super Bowl week, which was filled with events and festivities, ADOT pre-staged resources at multiple locations across the Valley. Cone trucks, attenuators, a dump truck and loader along with an ALERT (Arizona Local Emergency Response Team) truck were all deployed and ready to go. In the event they were needed, these vehicles would be able to quickly clear crashes.

Our Traffic Operations Center was also ready for any traffic incident. The TOC Control Room served as the central point of contact for ADOT and other agencies. Because of excellent coordination with those agencies and surrounding municipalities, the TOC was able to promptly update our Dynamic Message Signs with important route information and safety messaging. During the game, ADOT was also on-site at the Multi-Agency Coordination Center to manage operations in coordination with a number of local agencies.

Now that Super Bowl XLIX is behind us, it’s safe to say that the planning paid off. Lessons learned were shared amongst agencies, and the partnerships that were in many cases already there to begin with, have been strengthened.