Weg Traffic Plans Map Out a Smooth Ride
Allow Plenty of Time To Park
From the Lexington Herald Leader, August 8, 2010
By Cheryl Truman
If you are going to attend the upcoming Alltech FEI World Equestrian games, you probably have one very important question: How long will I sit in traffic waiting to get into the Kentucky Horse Park?
WEG trafficplanners and Lexington police say you probably won't wait long or be inconvenienced much.
The plan is to direct drivers to the Horse Park and other Lexington spotswith a series of signs specifically for WEG, avoid traffic choke points with the help of Lexington police, and get people into the Kentucky Horse Park in a brisk manner with the help of volunteers and temporary workers. (Parking at the Horse Park will be $20, cash only.)
Out-of-town visitors will be directed to the Iron Works Pike exit off Interstate 75, then to the Horse Park; in-town spectators will be routed to the Newtown Pike exit off New Circle Road and then to Iron Works Pike.
Jim Downs - a traffic expert from Gameday Management Group, an Orlando, Fla., company that has managed traffic for the last 10 Super Bowls - is thw traffic czar for WEG. Th control traffic at the Horse Park, he said, he relies on an idea called "lane power," or the number of cars he can move down a strip of road over a given time. The lane powere equation will determine how WEG traffic will floe during the run of the Games from Sept. 25 to Oct. 10.
About 300,000 tickets have been sold so far to WEG events, out of a goal of 500,000. A ticket must be held for each event a person attends. WEG officials estimate that if the ticket goal is reached, between 250,000 and 300,000 people will attend the Games over 16 days. Unless you arrive by hotel shuttle or Lex Tran bus, everybody has to drive to the park and leave their car in a parking space.
WEG expects an avaerage daily attendance of 15,750 with about 2.5 people per car or about 7,500 cars each day.
With parking for11,000 cars at Spy Coast Farm next to the Horse park, there should be plenty of parking.
Some days will be bigger than others during the run of the Games, Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, ffor example is expected to be particularly busy because of key events in dressage, eventing and reining.
Arrive an Hour Ahead
No matter which day or event they're going to, WEG traffic planners advise spectators to arrive about an hour before the event. That will allow time time to walk a quarter-mile to a half-mile - the furthest distance Downs said - from the parking lot to the park's entrance, get to the event and settle in. There will be shuttles from the parking lot for the disabled.
Said Down,:"Will there be heavier than normal traffic? yes. Will you be able to come rip-roaring in five minutes before your event? No."
Downs said he thinks that 1,000 vehicles an hour can be moved on the four-lane section of Iron Works Pike near the park.
The plan by WEG officials and Lexington police to avoid having traffic stall and spectators fume at the Iron Works Pike entrance to the Hose Park is to keep traffic moving to get people into parking spots as quickly as possible. That's the reason for cash only for parking. It's quicker than credit cards. Andthey'll tell spectators about advantages of hotel shuttles and Lex Tran buses, which can move far more people than cars.
Lexington police said they have plans for moving cars, buses and shuttles under all contingencies - routing circumstances, crowding for the finals of a competitive event and even weather calamity, such as a sudden soaking downpour with wind and lightning.
For folks going downtown to participate in events, parking will be available in downtown parking structures, at the Lexington Center and 1,800 metered on-street spaces.
A Peak on Oct. 9
There's one day when the forces of Lexington event traffic will coalesce. On Ot. 9, there will be racing at Keeneland, a UK (University of Kentucky) home football game against Auburn at Commonwealth Stadium (time to be announced) and WEG driving, jumping and vaulting events.
But traffic mavens don't expect a problem, because each event is in a different area of the city.
Lexington police have had substantial experience with traffic at the Horse Park during the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event each spring.
Rolex draws about 80,000 over a four day run with a one day high of 40,000 to 50,000. WEG officials have said that one day attendance for some events might run slightly higher than that for Rolex.
. . .advice to the WEG-bound is again, "Come early. it is important that people understand that yes, there will be some traffic, but it's nothing the city hasn't dealt with before."
Inconvenuences will be minimal, but there will always be a hiccup.
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