Roads around stadiums on game days - how long until they return to normal flow?

[tradephoric]

There was a notorious traffic backup before a NASCAR race in Sparta, Kentucky in July of 2011.  Thousands of fans were turned away from the track, people were parking their cars on the side of the interstate and walking, 15 mile backups on I-71... it turned into a complete shit show. 

[Ted$8roadFan]

If the lousy performance of our college and pro football teams continues this year, stadium traffic may become less of a problem over time.

[jeffandnicole]

I fell asleep by halftime, but the media accounts this morning say a large portion of the crowd left early last night in view of what a stinker of a game it was. If so, that surely contributed to ease of leaving.

The only notable early exodus I witnessed was when the Bears put the game away with about 4 minutes left in the 4th - a sizable chunk of Commanders fans left at that point (leaving Bears fans such as myself to spend the last few minutes together celebrating the first win in almost a year), but up to that point I thought it remained fairly packed. But yes, even that small head-start by Commanders fans likely helped matters, and the fact that the beltway would otherwise be fairly quiet at 11:30 PM on a weekday.

The most rememberable early departure I recall was a Dec 5, 2005 Monday Night thrashing of the Seahawks over the Eagles.  Temps were about 30 degrees with a chillier wind chill and a chance of snow.  Seahawks were up 35-0 at halftime.  Nearly the entire stadium emptied out after the 1st half. To the Eagles credit - they were prepared.  Escalators were set to send fans down towards the exits; stadium personnel were at their posts near the exit gates; police were stationed where they normally are on the roads.  Basically, everything that would be expected at the end of the game; they just moved everything up to halftime.

2 cousins were at the game, and were 2 of the very few that stayed till the end.  As they left, they slowly slid into a police car on 95's Girard Point Bridge.  Cop cursed them out but told them just to keep going.

This is one of the very few games I've left early; I almost always stay till the end. 

[wriddle082]

Usually the traffic around Nissan Stadium in Nashville isn't too terribly bad for Titans game days, or at least the interstates.  A lot of fans coming from the east side will take the Music City Star commuter rail, and some from either the east or north sides will go to the Opry Mills/Opryland complex and take either a river taxi or the General Jackson Showboat.  There are other transit options via the WeGo busses as well from other parts of town.  Otherwise it's a lot like a daily commute into the city, where the parking garages all fill up.  And Predators game traffic is usually only bad within 9 or 10 blocks of Bridgestone Arena, and rarely backs up along the interstates.  But I always tried to get to either venue at least an hour and a half prior to the kickoff or puck drop.

[webny99]

For the different sports stadiums (and to an extent the concert venues as well, the Hollywood Bowl in particular has terrible traffic), do people notice that traffic is worse at the beginning or the end of the event.  Certainly, the end is terrible as everyone tends to leave at the same time, but at the beginnings there is a lot of queing as everyone has to stop to pay a parking fee.  Plus, for many evening events, the start of the event will coincide with the end of the evening rush hour.

In Buffalo at least, it's normally worse in the immediate vicinity of Bills stadium before the game, and worse on the outbound roads after the game, because much of the traffic hits the highway at once rather than being spread out as it is before the game.

One BIG exception to this: TNF and MNF games. Game traffic mixing with weekday rush hour traffic lends to predictably bad results.

There's currently miles of slow traffic on I-90, I-190, I-290 approaching I-90, and the Peace Bridge entering the US. Looks like nearly an hour from Clarence to Orchard Park, which is normally a 30 minute trip.

[boilerup25]

Purdue student here who walks to games as opposed to driving because I'm on campus, so I know this:
The roads immediately around Ross-Ade Stadium/Mackey Arena are blocked off on game days.
I don't really see much traffic issues on I-65 during game days, but I think that's just me.
Streets on campus fill up, especially Stadium Avenue and Jischke Drive.
People are directed onto the US 231 bypass to Cherry Lane / Jischke Drive for stadium parking, or directed along Sagamore Parkway and Northwestern Avenue to stadium parking. There are shuttles from the Jischke Drive parking area to the stadium.
Most of the students walk to the games, which relieves some of the car traffic.

[Rothman]

Syracuse shuts down a section of Almond St for SU games and other events at the JMA Wireless (f/k/a Carrier) Dome.  I believe it's to allow free flow from the off-ramp from I-81 SB at Adams/Harrison.

[6a]

I know CPD has an actual manual for traffic management on Ohio State football days. I'm not sure about the Blue Jackets/Crew/Clippers, but I'd have to imagine there is; the three facilities are on the same road, separated by about 0.6 miles. None of the places have huge parking lots, though, so the walking (or scooters, etc.) might spread things out a bit to mitigate vehicle traffic somewhat. It's never taken me more than about 20 minutes to get out of a Blue Jackets game. For the Crew, I parked about a mile away and just rented a scooter. OSU is a whole different story, but again, I've usually parked far enough away that the walk took care of some of the wait in traffic. I can't remember it taking more than an hour to get out there.

For the Independence Day fireworks, it's a mandatory day for us (I'm a bus driver). They estimate somewhere around 4-500,000 people downtown for that. We basically just line up buses and shuttle to various park & ride lots. It can take quite a while, though. I'd say at least a couple hours to clear everything out.

[Road Hog]

Arlington should be rightly criticized for lack of public transportation, but they got the traffic plan right. Even for Cowboys games, it's easy in and easy out with the traffic design and available road network. For a typical Rangers game against the Rays that draws 30K, traffic is almost negligible.

NASCAR races at Texas Motor Speedway is a different matter. It takes at least 3 hours for traffic to clear, maybe more like 4-6 for a Cup race.

[AABattery]

Syracuse shuts down a section of Almond St for SU games and other events at the JMA Wireless (f/k/a Carrier) Dome.  I believe it's to allow free flow from the off-ramp from I-81 SB at Adams/Harrison.

I've seen state troopers shut down parts of Exit 5 on 460 going into Blacksburg once the game's a good way through, I'm guessing maybe for that?? (not 100% sure)

I do remember though my parents not wanting to drive around Southgate on game days back when there was a traffic light on 460, but they've removed it a few years ago now

[Lukeisroads]

Ive been to Mechanics Bank Arena in bakersfield for the justin moore concert and i liked disney so i saw disney on ice their too. and OMG what a nightmare. the only places to park is behind the entire stadium and at the convention center lot And this is on N and Q Streets and oh youre not ready for this https://www.google.com/maps/@35.3712124,-119.013216,341m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu it has a crossing and people are scrambling just to find a spot people have parked in the parking garage thats meant for the admin building of kern so chaotic. at least theirs a ped bridge for the peds but holy cow its chaos