AUSTIN, Texas — As South by Southwest continues, the city of Austin’s Spring Festival Event Operations Center is open to help handle everything that’s going on.
“Our top priority during this time of year is the safety of the public and those people coming to experience our city,” said David Wiechmann with Austin Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
Inside the operations center is staff from multiple departments, including Austin poilice, the Austin Transportation Department and Austin-Travis County EMS. ATCEMS also has a mobile hospital set up in case of an emergency.
“We focus on the downtown entertainment districts – that’s where we have our patient collection point that’s the field hospital and where special response units operate out of,” said ATCEMS spokesperson Cpt. Christa Stedman.
When it comes to traffic, CapMetro, police and the Transportation Department say keep an eye on busy roads.
“We have eyes so to speak to keep on the traffic, and I would encourage people to plan ahead for your route. Know what route you are going to take. See if there is alternate route that might avoid potential traffic,” said Wiechmann.
While emergency personnel is trying to keep people safe, bands and badge members are enjoying SXSW.