1. Faculty of Environment
  2. Events
  3. Institute for Transport Studies
  4. ITS guest seminar: Business as (Un)usual – Planning a Major Event on the Public Highway

Institute for Transport Studies event

ITS guest seminar: Business as (Un)usual – Planning a Major Event on the Public Highway

Major event planning seminar
  • Date: Wednesday 11 August 2021, 10:00 – 11:00
  • Location: Online
  • Cost: Free
  • Download: Outlook, iCal

Join us for our latest free webinar presented by Andy Merckel I.Eng. M.I.C.E. Principal Engineer Network Management, Highways and Transportation at Leeds City Council.

Access: To join the webinar on the day, click the following link https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/949404349 

Abstract: On the face of it, closing roads to create the ‘field of play’ for a sporting event is relatively straight-forward. A temporary Traffic Regulation Order plus a few signs and barriers and you’re good to go! However, when you accept that the majority of road users, residents and business owners have little or no interest in the sporting activity, but simply want to carry on with business as usual, then the planning takes on a much wider aspect as far as the public Highway is concerned. Using the 2021 edition of the World Triathlon Championship as an example, I’ll lead you through the some of the challenges of successfully staging an event that is watched by people across the whole world.

Biog: Originally from Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands Andy Merckel studied Civil Engineering at Sheffield Polytechnic and worked for major contractors before coming to Leeds in 1987. Having worked on a range of municipaI/highways schemes he settled into the Traffic Engineering team for 20 years before moving to Network Management at the end of 2020. Leeds is home to over 900 events each year ranging from community carnivals to international sporting events. Around 250 of them impact on the highway network. Andy was part of the gear-change in LCC event organisation that started in 2014 with the Grand Depart of the Tour de France and has since included five editions of the Tour de Yorkshire, the 2019 World Road Cycling Championships and five editions of the World Triathlon Championship.

There will be a Q&A session at the end of the presentation and everyone is encouraged to participate.

Please ensure your camera and microphone are switched off during the presentation to help preserve bandwidth and minimise any disruptions.

If you have any queries please email J.Cleaver@leeds.ac.uk

We look forward to seeing you.