FIFA World Cup 2026
Documentation
Back to dashboard
01

Overview

The dashboard answers one question for SDOT operations: on a World Cup match day, how is traffic around Lumen Field behaving compared to a normal day? Everything on the page is one of two measurements, compared against a baseline (a typical non-event day) for the same time of day:

  • Traffic volume - how many vehicles are moving through, from 18 intersection & bridge count locations.
  • Travel time - how long it takes to drive each corridor, from 21 Iteris ClearGuide routes (12 physical corridors, both directions).

Those locations are grouped into four areas - SODO/Stadium, Central Business District, Crosstown (Mercer/Denny/Yesler), and Ship Canal Bridges - so you can read the network as a whole, drill into an area, or look at a single location.

The one rule that explains most numbers Volume is reported as a total (vehicles counted over a time window). Travel time is reported as an average (minutes per trip). You sum vehicles; you don't sum minutes. Keep that distinction in mind and almost every number reads cleanly.
02

Traffic volume - what the vehicle counts mean

Each of the 18 count locations records a 15-minute vehicle count - every vehicle entering the intersection or crossing the bridge screenline, all approaches and all vehicle classes, with no filtering by direction. Those 15-minute counts are the raw material for every volume number on the page.

How a volume number is built

When you select a period (say egress), a volume figure is the total vehicles over that whole window:

  • A single location = the sum of its 15-minute counts across the window (every 15-minute count from the start of the period to the end).
  • An area = the sum of every location in that area over the same window.
  • The whole network = the sum of all 18 locations over the window.

So with Egress selected, the SODO total reads 25,602 veh - about 25,600 vehicles entered the SODO count locations during egress that day (2:40-5:40 PM). The selected period and its clock range are shown in each section's header (for example "Egress . 2:40pm-5:40pm"), and the unit sits next to the number.

Traffic Volumes table, Egress selected, SODO expanded to its count locations
Where it shows up: the Traffic Volumes table, top row, with a period selected. The number is a window total, not a snapshot.
Missing data is dropped, never zeroed If a count location has no data for part of a window, those 15-minute intervals are omitted from the total - they are not counted as zero. The actual and baseline totals are compared over the same set of intervals, so a sensor dropout never makes traffic look artificially low on one side. Where coverage is materially incomplete, the cell shows --- instead of a misleading total.
03

Travel time - what the minutes mean

Travel time comes from Iteris ClearGuide. Each route reports the average minutes to drive that corridor segment, in 15-minute steps through the day. Unlike volume, travel time is always an average - you report a typical trip length, you don't add trips together.

How a travel-time number is built

  • A single route = its average drive time over the selected window.
  • An area = a length-weighted average of its corridors, so a long corridor counts more than a short stub and one short segment can't dominate the number.

One corridor, two directions

On the map, each physical corridor is drawn once, colored by the average of both directions, to keep the picture readable. In the Travel Times table at the bottom, the same corridor is broken out by direction (e.g. NB and SB listed separately) so you can see directional detail - which is why the table can list two rows where the map shows one line.

Travel Times table, Egress selected, SODO expanded to its routes by direction
Where it shows up: the Travel Times table (by direction) vs the Impacts map (one line per corridor, both directions averaged).
04

The baseline - what a "normal day" is

Every actual number is shown against a baseline: what this location or corridor normally does at the same time of day on a comparable non-event day.

  • How it's computed: for each 15-minute slot, the baseline is the average across several comparable non-event days - so it's a smooth typical-day profile, not a single arbitrary day.
  • Weekday vs weekend: baselines are split into weekday and weekend, and a match is compared to the matching day type.
  • Excluded days & intervals: known-bad days or intervals (holidays, sensor outages, other big events) are excluded from the baseline so they don't distort "normal." Excluded items read as ---.
  • Rounding: baseline volumes are shown on a "smart rounding" ladder (to the nearest 5 / 10 / 100 / 1,000 depending on size) because a baseline is an estimate of normal, not a precise count. The actual match-day number is shown unrounded.
Why the baseline is rounded but the actual isn't The baseline is an average of several days - presenting it to the exact vehicle would imply a precision it doesn't have. The match-day actual is a real measured count, so it's shown exactly. This matches the convention on the Revive I-5 report.
05

Change from baseline & the five impact bands

The core signal of the dashboard is the change from baseline - the actual compared to normal, as a percent. Positive means heavier than normal (more volume, or longer travel time). That percent drives the color of every dot, line, and tile through a five-step ramp:

Near baselinewithin 10% of a normal day
Light impact10-20% above baseline
Moderate impact20-30% above baseline
Heavy impact30-40% above baseline
Severe impactmore than 40% above baseline

The percent is computed over the whole selected window: total actual versus total baseline (for volume), or average actual versus average baseline (for travel time), across the same covered intervals. An area or the network takes the worst of its volume and travel-time change for its band, so the color never under-states what's happening underneath it. The same colors drive every dot, line, and tile, and are keyed in the map legend (bottom-left).

07

The period selector - the time window everything reads

The period selector sits under the header and controls the time window for the whole page - the map colors, the tables, and the KPIs all read whatever period is selected. The five periods are anchored to the match's kickoff:

PeriodWindowWhat it captures
Pre-event2 hours before ingressThe run-up before fans start arriving.
Ingress3 hours before kickoffFans arriving (gates open ~3h prior).
Kickoff~2-hour matchDuring the match itself.
Egress3 hours after the matchCrowds leaving - usually the heaviest impact.
Post-event2 hours after egressThe network settling back to normal.
08

The "Traffic Volume vs Baseline" chart

This chart shows the network's volume across the entire day. It has two modes:

  • Actual Volumes - the match day (solid line) against the baseline (dashed). The gap between the lines is the event impact.
  • % vs Baseline - the same thing as a percent change, where the 0% line is a normal day.
What one point on the line is The chart plots one value every 15 minutes, and each value is the combined count across all 18 locations for that quarter-hour. So a point reading "730 veh at 2:15 AM" means 730 vehicles entered the monitored network between 2:15 and 2:30 AM. The axis is labeled "vehicles per 15 min" for this reason. (This is a time series of 15-minute totals - distinct from the table numbers, which are totals over a whole period.)
Why the most recent points can be missing DERQ counts arrive with a vendor latency of about 30 minutes, and some locations lag further. To avoid a false drop-off at the leading edge, the live chart holds back the most recent time bins until they settle: a bin appears only once it and the following bin both have complete counts from all 18 locations. That trades a little latency for an accurate trailing edge, so the newest point you see is intentionally a bit behind the clock.
Traffic Volume vs Baseline chart, event day vs baseline across the day
Where it shows up: first section of the body. Hover any point for its 15-minute value.
09

The Impacts map

The map shows the real network, colored by how far each feature is from baseline for the selected period:

SymbolWhat it is
DotsThe 18 count locations. Color = volume change from baseline.
LinesThe 12 physical corridors. Color = travel-time change (both directions averaged).
Red trianglesSDOT TOC incidents active during the selected window, placed at the incident location.

The legend (bottom-left) keys the five impact-band colors and lets you toggle each layer. Hover any feature for a tooltip with its name, the baseline-vs-actual numbers, and (for count locations) a satellite thumbnail.

The Impacts map: count locations, corridors, and incidents colored by change
Where it shows up: the Impacts Map section. Color always means change-from-baseline, not raw volume.
10

The area KPI tiles

One KPI tile per area summarizes the selected period:

  • Volume vs baseline - the area's total volume for the window against its baseline total, with the percent change.
  • Travel time vs baseline - the length-weighted average travel time across the area's corridors, against baseline.
  • Each tile is colored by its impact band and shows baseline first, then the actual (the actual bolded).
The four area KPI tiles, volume and travel time vs baseline
Where it shows up: in the Impacts Map section, stacked alongside the map.
11

The volume & travel-time tables

Below the map, two tables give the numbers behind the colors. Both follow the same layout, sorted by impact (worst area first):

  • Traffic Volumes - one row per area; expand an area to see its count locations. Columns: Baseline, then Traffic (the actual), then the % change, then a profile button.
  • Travel Times - one row per area; expand to see each corridor by direction. Columns: Baseline (min), Avg travel time (min), % change, profile.

Both tables read the selected period. Volume cells are window totals; travel-time cells are window averages. Rows marked --- are excluded or have no data for the window.

Traffic Volumes table expanded to an area's count locations
Where it shows up: Traffic Volumes and Travel Times sections. Baseline is shown first, then the actual.
12

Day-profile pop-outs

The profile button on any row opens a day-profile chart for that feature - its value across the whole day, actual versus baseline, in absolute units (vehicles for a count location or area; minutes for a corridor). It's the same idea as the big chart at the top, scoped to one location, area, or corridor.

  • Count location -> its vehicle volume through the day.
  • Area -> that area's total volume through the day.
  • Corridor -> its average travel time through the day.
Why travel time has no area-level profile Volume rolls up to an area cleanly because you can add the count locations together, so area rows in the Traffic Volumes table have a profile button. Travel time does not: an area travel time is a length-weighted average across corridors of different lengths and directions, which doesn't reduce to a single meaningful day-curve the way summed volume does. So the Travel Times table shows a profile only on the individual corridor rows (by direction), not on the area rows - open a corridor to see its travel-time trend.
Day-profile pop-out for one count location, actual vs baseline across the day
Where it shows up: click the small chart icon on any table row.
13

Incidents & Ops Notes

Incidents come from the SDOT TOC feed, filtered to those active during the selected window, of the relevant types (construction is excluded), and within the monitored network. Each lists its cross-street location, time, and description, and plots as a red triangle on the map. The citywide feed is geographically filtered so only incidents near the monitored corridors and count locations appear.

The Ops Notes drawer (top-right) collects the day's TOC notes, the NOAA forecast, and the incident list - the qualitative context behind the numbers.

Ops Notes drawer: TOC note, NOAA weather, and incidents with cross-streets
Where it shows up: red triangles on the map; the full list in the Ops Notes drawer.