An enroute controller experienced a heavy/complex traffic period when departure traffic from a sport...

Narrative:

I was working the radar position at combined sectors. An annual sporting event ended and aircraft began departing southbound instead of westbound or southwest bound as they normally do after this event. The aircraft were re-routed without any coordination or with any noticeable 'in trail spacing' in place. The complexity and volume increased quickly and most aircraft came into my airspace on headings or deviating for weather. The frequency was heavily congested with pilots questioning their routes and requesting their original routes; which added to the confusion. A BE33 was northbound at 110. An E120 was southbound and I climbed him through the BE33. Conflict alert activated and I turned both aircraft and called traffic. It was completely unacceptable; and in my opinion; completely unsafe for traffic to ever reach this volume in any sector. It is my understanding that; over the past few years; we have come up with 'special event' departure routes that would alleviate this subject volume. If weather made these routes unusable; someone; other than controllers or even flms; should have made sure safe alternatives were in place; and that everyone involved was aware of them.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Enroute Controller experienced a heavy/complex traffic period when departure traffic from a sporting event were assigned other than published procedures due to weather complication/s.

Narrative: I was working the RADAR position at combined Sectors. An annual sporting event ended and aircraft began departing southbound instead of westbound or southwest bound as they normally do after this event. The aircraft were re-routed without any coordination or with any noticeable 'in trail spacing' in place. The complexity and volume increased quickly and most aircraft came into my airspace on headings or deviating for weather. The frequency was heavily congested with pilots questioning their routes and requesting their original routes; which added to the confusion. A BE33 was northbound at 110. An E120 was southbound and I climbed him through the BE33. Conflict Alert activated and I turned both aircraft and called traffic. It was completely unacceptable; and in my opinion; completely unsafe for traffic to ever reach this volume in any sector. It is my understanding that; over the past few years; we have come up with 'special event' departure routes that would alleviate this subject volume. If weather made these routes unusable; someone; other than controllers or even FLMs; should have made sure safe alternatives were in place; and that everyone involved was aware of them.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	949014
Time
Date	201105
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Brasilia EMB-120 All Series
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Flight Plan	VFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Bonanza 33
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Climb
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

An enroute controller experienced a heavy/complex traffic period when departure traffic from a sporting event were assigned other than published procedures due to weather complication/s.