AACA & Mumford Stopover Traffic Control Plans

August 10, 2012

Attached please find a map of the basic traffic control plan for two separate but consecutive downtown special events. The first event is the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) antique automobile show that will take place on Friday, August 10. The second event is the Gentlemen of the Road (GOTR) concert that will take place on Saturday, August 11, with fireworks. Lot closures for GOTR preparations begin on Tuesday, August 7. Street closures for GOTR preparations begin on Thursday, August 9 and continue overnight. Street closures for the AACA event begin on Friday, August 10 and continue overnight. Saturday morning, August 11, a short portion of western State Street re-opens to accommodate the Farmer’s Market and then closes again at noon. The roadways remain closed overnight with additional closures for streets near the fireworks launch area near 3rd Street that evening . The main Gentlemen of the Road concert takes place Saturday night. Early Sunday morning, August 12, most of State Street re-opens after clean-up activities are complete, while certain streets around the GOTR concert site remain closed until Sunday evening, August 12 when stage dismantling and clean-up of the pay area is complete. The annual Poker Ride will go past the GOTR closure area on Sunday afternoon, August 12 . This document contains multiple maps and traffic control material lists.

This set of plans was developed with the following constraints in mind:

1. Access is maintained to the Virginia Fire Department north on Lee Street via Scott Street, or in extremis, through the closure area south on Lee Street. Access from the Virginia Fire Department to the Anderson Street bridge must also be maintained.

2. Access is maintained to the Fort Shelby Tower housing complex on Shelby Street, which is the scene of multiple medical response calls per day. Access should be planned via 6th Street to Shelby Street, and then to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard side of the complex.

3. Access is maintained to the Virginia Sheriff’s Office and jail complex via its driveway on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard through a short contraflow section in the typically northbound lanes of Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, for official vehicles only, from the Scott Street side.

4. Access is maintained to the parking areas for downtown residents by keeping access open to the northern portion of the parking lot on the northwestern corner of State Street and Stoneman Family Drive, and the parking lots south of Winston Alley east of Moore Street.

5. Access is maintained to all five downtown banks. Access impacts range from immediately minimal (Citizen’s Bank at State Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard); to one side access only (Regions Bank at Shelby Street and Volunteer Parkway); temporary two-way flow access (TriSummit Bank at Lee Street and Winston Alley); temporary wrong-way flow access (Wells Fargo Bank at Moore Street and Winston Alley); and a temporary coned-off drive-through lane (First Tennessee Bank at State Street and 8th Street).

6. By using extensive advance lane closures, traffic flowing towards downtown in both directions on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard is encouraged to detour before reaching the closure area (southbound at West Mary Street, northbound at Anderson Street and Shelby Street). These efforts also help to alleviate the trapping of vehicles on northbound Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard near State Street by trains on the State Street railroad crossing.

7. Minimize adverse impacts to the Bristol Main Library, Post Office, and Greyhound Bus Station.

8. The closure area encompasses a proposed beer garden on 5th Street while maintaining the ability to “drain” parking lots along 5th Street between State Street and Shelby Street at the end of the working day on Friday.

9. Access is maintained to the Farmer’s Market at the Downtown Center on Saturday, morning, August 11, for six hours and then the roadways are closed again.

10. Parking space is provided near the television station for their operations vehicles.

The following operational requirements apply to this event, as listed below (not in any particular order):

1. Access Control. The various streets will open and close as indicated from early preparations until clean-up activities are complete. Once the streets are closed, only municipal/emergency vehicles or armored trucks servicing the various banks will be permitted inside the closure area. Ordinary delivery vehicles (such as UPS or Fed-Ex) will not be permitted inside the closure area.

2. Fire Safety Requirements. To ensure fire safety precautions are met, the following requirements will apply:

a. A fire line 12 feet wide must be maintained along the entire length of State Street when it is closed, from Volunteer Parkway/Commonwealth Avenue to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. It does not have to be straight, but does have to be traversable by the largest fire truck for the entire length of the street. Nothing can be in place across this fire lane except traffic control devices and crowds. For the AACA event, this can be accommodated by parking the display vehicles parallel to the curb on the Tennessee side and angled at approximately 45 degrees on the Virginia side. It will be kept clear under penalty of law.

b. Likewise, a fire lane will be maintained along the western curb lane (typical travel lane) of 6th Street from Shelby Street to State Street, and on Moore Street from State Street to the barricades at the bank entrance. Any vendors in this area must set up along the eastern (parking) lane. This fire lane will be kept open under penalty of law.

c. All areas within 10 feet of fire hydrants will be kept clear under penalty of law.

d. To prevent parked patron vehicles from blocking the approaches to the closure area, the two sign crews will deploy NO PARKING signs with the Tow-Away Zone symbol on 8th Street and 7th Street north of Shelby Street (Tennessee) and on Lee Street, Piedmont Avenue, and Carter Family Way south of Goode Street/Winston Alley (Virginia) on the approaches to the closure area, and on Carter Family Way (Virginia) inside the closure area.

3. Bus Operations. Greyhound buses will have to enter and exit their station via Shelby Street, and they have been so notified. Municipal buses, both Virginia and Tennessee, will enter the transit transfer station from 8th Street, load/unload in the southern section, and exit onto Shelby Street. They will not enter State Street.

4. Overhead Banners. Overhead banners are permitted on the City-owned banner poles over State Street (one set is near Volunteer Parkway/Commonwealth Avenue and the other set is near Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard). Banners over the streets away from these locations are permitted for this event if the following are upheld:

a. Such banners cannot be installed until the road is closed and must be removed before the street is reopened. If they are not removed by that time, City crews will remove them without regard to preserving them for future use.

b. All banners will have at least 15 feet of clearance from the pavement at their lowest point for proper firefighting equipment access.

5. Proximity of Amenities to Volunteer Parkway/Commonwealth Avenue. No display vehicles for the AACA event will be permitted to be parked inside the closure area within 100 feet of the Volunteer Parkway/Commonwealth Avenue intersection so that the in-pavement magnetic-induction vehicle detectors do not give false calls to the traffic signal controller and thus interfere with traffic signal operations.

6. Rain Date. There is no rain date.

7. Refuse Containers. Roll-out carts will be distributed throughout the closure area by the two Bristols. The City of Bristol, Virginia will donate landfill space; both Bristols will provide street sweepers and clean-up labor.

8. Equipment Set-Up. No stages or other equipment will be set up in the street until that street has been closed by City personnel in compliance with the standards outlined in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Stage crews or other non-City personnel are not authorized to close streets, move vehicle traffic control devices, or block streets with their equipment. Unauthorized persons setting up in the street before the street is closed to traffic by City crews are subject to arrest.

9. Material Removal at End of AACA Event. It is imperative that the removal of materials (port-a-lets, display tables, vehicles, etc.) for the AACA event begin at 9:00 p.m. to accommodate post-event clean-up by City crews. This allows the City crews toutilize power equipment and street sweepers to complete the post-event clean-up. Police assistance in keeping the closure area free of traffic while the clean-up work progresses is appreciated.

AACA display vehicles cannot exit the closure area as they did in 2011 because of the Lee Street closures associated with the GOTR event. Vehicles displayed west of the 7th Street/Piedmont Avenue intersection will exit via Piedmont Avenue as guided by AACA personnel. Vehicles displayed between 7th Street/Piedmont Avenue and 5th Street/Lee Street will exit via State Street to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard as guided by AACA personnel. No AACA vehicles will be parked on State Street between 5th Street/Lee Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.

10. In-Street Pedestrian Midblock Crosswalk Signage. 2012 marks the first year that in-street midblock pedestrian signage is in place in the 500 and 600 blocks of State Street. Once these blocks are closed, the Tennessee sign crew will remove both in-street pedestrian sign assemblies, leaving a flush pavement surface. As part of the clean-up activities at the end of the event, the Tennessee sign crew will re-install these devices, taking care to ensure that the side with the STATE LAW legend is viewable by westbound (Virginia-side) motorists only.

11. Golf Cart Access. Golf carts will not be permitted to operate on downtown streets outside of the closure area.

12. Chronology of Events and Closures. The chronology of events for these two events, combined, is as follows:

Monday, August 6, The Virginia sign crew stages materials for Stage 0 of the event.
during the day:

Tuesday, August 7, Stage 0. The Virginia block bounded by Lee Street, Cumberland
6:00 a.m.: Street, Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, and State Street is closed (private properties only) at their driveways to the surrounding streets by the Bristol, Virginia Police Department by blocking the three driveways with previously staged Type I barricades. The Bristol, Virginia Police Department will also block the southern half of the Cumberland Square Park parking lot with cones and display the WCYB sign as indicated on the plans, as well as deploy four cones with retroreflective banding at the dumpster on Winston Alley east of Moore Street. All streets remain open.

Wednesday, August 8, Both sign crews stage materials for the Stage I closures as
during the day: indicated.

Thursday, August 9, Stage I street closures are installed as shown on Figure A above by
6:00 a.m.: the two sign crews with previously staged materials. Completely closed are Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard from State Street to Scott Street; Lee Street from Winston Alley to the Beaver Creek bridge; Cumberland Street from Moore Street to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard (shown solid on the diagram), and the Virginiaside of State Street from Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to Lee Street/5th Street (shown tall dotted on diagram). To encourage through traffic to detour short of the closure area, the southbound and northbound right lanes of Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard are closed upstream of the closure area (heavy dotted lines on the diagram), as well as the right lane of eastbound Cumberland Street east of Moore Street. Winston Alley from Lee Street to Moore Street will temporarily become a two-way street.

The sequence of closures will be as follows: Set up the advance lane closures on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard by both Tennessee and Virginia; then the complete closure of Cumberland Street by the Virginia sign crew (including the “parking lane” in front of the Executive Plaza building) while the Tennessee sign crew sets up the closure on the westbound lanes in the 400 block of State Street and its advance signage; then the complete closure of Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard from State Street to Scott Street by Virginia; then Virginia sets up the two-way flow on Winston Alley, followed by the closure of Lee Street as indicated. Finally, the “parking lane” of Cumberland Street is re-opened to use by WCYB.

Stage I closures allow for stage and other concert infrastructure to be constructed in place for the GOTR event.

Once the Stage I closures are in place, the issue arises as to queue control on northbound Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard at State Street when eastbound State Street is blocked by a train. With a train on the tracks and the northbound Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard No U Turn sign in place at State Street, such northbound traffic north of Shelby Street is trapped. The Tennessee Police Department will need to dispatch one of their officers working downtown to this intersection to allow such northbound motorists the opportunity to make a U-turn at State Street and go back south on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.

Thursday, August 9, Both sign crews stage materials for the Stage II and Stage III
during the day: closures as indicated.

Friday, August 10, Stage II closures are installed by the Virginia Police Department
6:00 a.m.: as indicated. Materials are to be previously staged by the Virginia sign crew to close the southern portion of the parking lot on the northwestern corner of State Street and Stoneman Family Drive (“library lot”) with Type I barricades and block all of the on-street parking spaces on Stoneman Family Drive with cones. Access is maintained to the private leased parking spaces at the northern end of the library lot from Carter Family Way. These closures will facilitate closure activities later in the day. These items are illustrated on the VIRGINIA DIAGRAM 2 drawing (which is shown as an inset to the VIRGINIA DIAGRAM 3 drawing).

The Tennessee Police Department will block the parking spaces on eastbound State Street in front of the Downtown Center and First Tennessee Bank with cones. This ensures that these spaces are empty in order to install the coned-off drive-in lane at 1:00 p.m.

Friday, August 10, During the day on Friday, August 10, before 3:00 p.m., any of the
before 3:00 p.m.: AACA display vehicles can park on State Street just like it was any other typical day. However, until the streets are sealed at 3:00 p.m. all of these vehicles must parallel park in legal parking spaces; diagonal parking cannot be accommodated before 3:00 p.m. Once the streets are vacated of non-AACA vehicles and the closure area sealed at 3:00 p.m., the Virginia-side vehicles are to be re-parked at a 45-degree angle, pointing towards the east in such a way that the fire lane down State Street is maintained. References following to vehicles to be vacated from the closure area before 3:00 p.m. do not apply to legally parked AACA display vehicles.

Friday, August 10, The Tennessee sign crew stages the materials for the Fireworks
8:00 a.m.: closure area on 2nd Street and 3rd Street, to be deployed on Saturday by Tennessee Fire Department personnel. This is to be completed before 1:00 p.m. The traffic plan for the fireworks display is discussed in a separate document.

Friday, August 10, The Tennessee Police Department begins blocking any and all of
Noon: the unoccupied parking spaces in the northern parking lot of the Downtown Center (the one accessed from State Street), so that all of the parking spaces in this three-hour term lot should be vacated by 3:00 p.m. No action is required on the southern parking lot of Downtown Center accessed from Shelby Street and 8th Street.

Friday, August 10: Stage III closures are deployed by both sign crews with previously
1:00 p.m.: staged materials. This action will expand the closure area (shown in heavy solid lines on Figure B) to all of State Street from Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to the Volunteer Parkway/ Commonwealth Avenue intersection. Certain approach lanes at the latter intersection are blocked (shown as heavy dotted lines on Figure B) to prevent vehicles from being “trapped.” Other streets that are completely closed include Stoneman Family Drive and portions of Carter Family Way, Piedmont Avenue, Moore Street, and Lee Street in Virginia; and portions of Ralph Peer Street, 8th Street, 7th Street, 6th Street, Bank Street, and 5th Street in Tennessee. With the closure of Lee Street just north of State Street, access to TriSummit Bank is now solely via the temporarily two-way portion of Winston Alley. Wells Fargo Bank is accessed temporarily by a wrong-way flow on Moore Street, while First Tennessee Bank is accessed via a temporary drive-in lane on 8th Street and State Street wrapping around the building.

Both police departments will install the temporary no-parking signs on hangers over the two-hour parking signs on both sides of State Street within the closure area.

Motorists parked on the street within the closure area have two hours to move their vehicles from their posted two-hour parking spaces. As soon as the streets are closed at 1:00 p.m., both Police Departments will begin blocking the empty on-street parking spaces with cones as they are vacated, so that by 3:00 p.m. all of the on-street parking spaces in the closure area should be empty.

At four locations, the Type III barricades in the “outbound” lanes will be set aside and not block the street so that motorists parked inside the closure area after 1:00 p.m. can “drain” (exit the closure area). These four locations are:

a. State Street at Volunteer Parkway/Commonwealth Avenue
b. State Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard
c. Piedmont Avenue one-half block north of State Street
d. 7th Street south one-half block south of State Street

Included in the Stage III closure is the assembly of the temporary drive-thru lane for First Tennessee Bank, utilizing the western lane of 8th Street and the eastbound parking lane of State Street, delineated by cones. A cone taper west of the drive-thru entrance is also installed with an eastbound RIGHT LANE CLOSED AHEAD (verbal) sign. This is why only one Type III barricade is in place on 8th Street at this time.

The Type III barricades on 5th Street will be placed at the south end of the Machiavelli’s building. By blocking the northern driveway to the large parking lot on the east side of 5th Street (which will be north of the barricades), this will allow Machiavelli’s to install a permitted beer garden on 5th Street north of the barricades. Parking lots on both sides of 5th Street can then drain out at the end of the work day south of those barricades and thus to 5th Street.

Friday, August 10, Stage IV closures are installed by both sign crews as indicated.
3:00 p.m.: At 3:00 p.m., all vehicles parked on the street in the closure area have had their two-hour terms expire and should be gone. Any vehicles left on the street in the closure area may require police action to remove them.

Both sign crews seal the four “drains” listed above in the Stage III closure . Once the four drains are closed, the sign crews will remove all of the cones used to block on-street parking spaces. Both sign crews will leave the cones removed west of the 8th Street/Carter Family Way intersection staged along State Street for use in the Stage V closure on Saturday.

In addition, the Tennessee sign crew installs one additional Type III barricade on 8th Street and closes the First Tennessee Bank drive-thru lane. Once that barricade is installed, the cones delineating the drive-thru lane and the eastbound State Street parking lane taper are removed. The verbal RIGHT LANE CLOSED AHEAD sign on eastbound State Street at Ralph Peer Street is completely removed and taken to the City Garage. Four of those cones are used to block the drive-thru lane at the State Street end, so that a motorist entering the First Tennessee Bank parking lot from 8th Street can drive up to the Night Depository.

Once all of the on-street parking spaces are vacated and the blocking cones are removed, the display vehicles for the AACA event can enter State Street from the Volunteer Parkway/ Commonwealth Avenue intersection. AACA needs to have an official stationed at this intersection to check vehicles in and direct them to their assigned parking location.

If the vehicles in the private parking lot on the southeastern corner of 5th Street and State Street still has private vehicles in it, set up a coned exit lane from their State Street driveway east along State Street in the right-turn lane to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. Make sure that the DO NOT ENTER signs are visible to westbound State Street motorists, and that the cone line is set up so that vehicles west of 5th Street/Lee Street cannot enter this lane. Once the vehicles are removed (which the motorists parking there are planning to do before 3:00 p.m.), the cone line can be removed and the Type III barricades put in place. This setup does not appear on the diagrams. If all of the private vehicles are gone from this lot already by 3:00 p.m. this step can be skipped. Cones are to be left here for a similar purpose later this evening.

After Stage IV is complete, the Tennessee sign crew stages certain materials for the Stage V closures. Most of the materials are already in the field for the Stage III closures. Additional materials required include the ROAD CLOSED AHEAD and DETOUR AHEAD signage on State Street east of Volunteer Parkway and the No Left Turn and No Right Turn signs at State Street and 8th Street/Carter Family Way. These materials are staged but not deployed; they will be deployed for Stage IV the following day by Tennessee Parks and Recreation workers.

Once the closure area is sealed, all of the temporary no-parking signs on hangers are removed from 6th Street and from both sides of State Street by both Police Departments. Some of these signs will be re-deployed early tomorrow morning in the 800 block of State Street only.

Friday, August 10, The AACA event officially begins.
5:00 p.m.

Friday, August 10, The AACA event officially ends. A few minutes before 9:00 p.m.,
9:00 p.m.: the cone line in the eastbound State Street right-turn lane from 5th Street/Lee Street to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard is installed and one Type III barricade at the latter intersection is removed (the westbound DO NOT ENTER signs remain in place). Display vehicles parked east of 7th Street/Piedmont Avenue are guided eastward into this cone line and thus to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard under the guidance of AACA officials(s). Display vehicles parked west of 7th Street/Piedmont Avenue are drained from the closure area, under the guidance of AACA official(s), out of the closure area onto northbound Piedmont Avenue (one Type III barricade on Piedmont Avenue having been set aside for this purpose).

Once all of the display vehicles have departed, the cone line east of 5th Street/Lee Street is removed and the Type III barricade replaced at Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. Clean-up activities commence by both Bristol crews. The closure area remains sealed overnight.

Saturday, August 11: The Tennessee Fire Department closes Johnson Alley and portions of 2nd Street and 3rd Street for the fireworks launch site closure integrity. The time of that closure has not yet been determined as of this writing.

Saturday, August 11, In the early morning hours, both Police Departments will install
before 6:00 a.m.: the temporary no-parking signs on hangers over the two-hour parking signs on both sides of State Street between Volunteer Parkway/Commonwealth Avenue and 8th Street/Carter Family Way.

Saturday, August 11, Stage V street re-openings are deployed by Tennessee Parks and
6:00 a.m.: Recreation (P&R) personnel. This action will re-open the closure area of Ralph Peer Street, 8th Street, Carter Family Way, and State Street west of 8th Street/Carter Family Way to traffic to accommodate access to the Farmer’s Market at the Downtown Center.

Before the re-openings take place, the temporary no-parking signs on hangers are to be in place on State Street, and all of the on-street parking spaces on State Street west of 8th Street/Carter Family Way are to be blocked with cones by Tennessee P&R personnel. The ROAD CLOSED AHEAD and DETOUR AHEAD signs staged yesterday on eastbound State Street are deployed, as well as the No Left Turn and No Right Turn signs at State Street and 8th Street/Carter Family Way. Once those signs are in place, the four Type III barricades at Volunteer Parkway/Commonwealth Avenue are moved back to 8th Street/Carter Family Way. It is very important that the DETOUR left sign on the Type III barricades is covered (but not removed) when the barricades are at 8th Street/Carter Family Way, as this sign points detouring traffic the wrong way up a one-way street. Temporary no-parking signs on sign stands on 8th Street and on Carter Family Way remain in place. Certain other signs are turned away from traffic while others remain displayed to traffic. The drawing TENNESSEE DIAGRAM 5 illustrates this layout.

Saturday, August 11, The Farmer’s Market closes. Vehicles parked in the Farmer’s
Noon: Market area (the northern portion of the Downtown Center) will be guided out by P&R personnel to exit to the southern half of the Downtown Center; they will not re-enter State Street. P&R personnel will reverse process to re-close Ralph Peer Street, 8th Street, Carter Family Way, and the 800 block of State Street to the same configuration that it was before the street was re-opened six hours earlier. The DETOUR left sign on the Type III barricade that was covered six hours ago is uncovered, so as to guide eastbound left-turning detour traffic to go north on Commonwealth Avenue. The cones blocking parking spaces on State Street will be removed. The ROAD CLOSED AHEAD and DETOUR AHEAD signs on eastbound State Street east of Volunteer Parkway are completely removed and taken to the City Garage.

After these streets are re-closed, the two Police Departments will remove their temporary no-parking signs on hangers in the 800 block of State Street.

When this step is complete, the street closure area should be in the same configuration as Stage IV.

Saturday, August 11, The “gates” open to the paid enclosure area for the main concert.
2:00 p.m.

Saturday, August 11, The first band begins playing at Cumberland Square Park.
3:30 p.m.

Saturday, August 11, Mumford and Sons band is scheduled to begin playing at the main
8:15 p.m.± stage on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard from approximately 8:15 to 10:15 p.m. The fireworks display will take place after this band concludes their performance. Other bands will appear at this main stage and the Cumberland Square Park stage until about 11:30 p.m. After that, various bands will appear at several venues (620 State, Paramount Theatre, etc.) to perform.

Sunday, August 12, At a time to be determined in the early morning hours, crews from
pre-dawn hours: both Bristols will clean State Street and the associated “side” streets (those that were closed for Stages II, III, and IV) and re-open them to traffic when the clean-up activities are complete.

The Tennessee street sweeper needs to make passes on 2nd Street, 3rd Street, and Johnson Alley in addition to the downtown closure area streets to remove any fireworks debris.

When this step is complete on Sunday morning, the closure area will be back to that configuration shown as Stage I (portions of Martin Luther King, Jr Boulevard, Lee Street, and Cumberland Street). State Street will be completely open.

Sunday, August 12, The annual Bristol Poker Ride by Girls, Incorporated, departs
2:00 p.m.: Anderson Park, travels north on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, turns right on State Street, and leaves the downtown area for points east. The full traffic control plan for that event is covered in a separate document.

Sunday, August 12, Upon completion of stage dismantling and clean-up in the Stage I
6:00 p.m.±: closure area, all streets are re-opened to traffic. The full closure area of Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard is opened first, followed by Cumberland Street and Lee Street in Virginia and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard approaches in both Bristols. Finally, Winston Alley will revert to one-way eastbound flow.

Archive

2023

January

2022

November

September

August

July

June

May

February

January

2021

December

June

May

April

March

January

2020

November

October

May

February

January

2019

November

October

September

July

June

May

April

March

February

January

2018

December

November

October

September

August

July

June

May

April

March

February

January

2017

December

November

October

September

August

July

June

May

April

March

February

January

2016

December

November

October

September

August

July

June

May

April

March

February

January

2015

December

November

October

September