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Super Bowl Parking Available - For a Price

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By RICH SHOPES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 1, 2009

Updated: 02/01/2009 05:57 pm

TAMPA - It took Garry Busch two and a half hours to get here from Naples.

"Traffic was not that bad at all," said Busch, 46.

Busch brought his brother, Don, and his girlfriend, Kris Kovacs, who flew in from Mesa, Ariz., for the game. They got here by 2:30 p.m., paid $20 to park at St. Joseph's Hospital and got to the stadium with plenty of time to do a little tailgating before kickoff.

Compared to New Jersey, this game day traffic was a breeze.

That's the way Brian Madigan, who runs a billboard printing company in Bergen County, N.J., sees it. The Steelers fan flew in yesterday for the game and has had no trouble getting around.

"No problem with the driving," he said. "It's very well done – lots of signs."

No sweat on the parking, too -- $50 for a spot a couple of blocks from the stadium.

"It's cheaper than buying a parking pass."

Drivers heading southbound on Dale Mabry from Hillsborough Avenue will find several businesses offering parking, from $50 to $100.

Several places along Columbus Drive, east of the stadium, are offering parking. Spots cost about $20 close to MacDill Avenue, then go up to $25 closer to the stadium and are $40 near Himes Avenue.

Raja Patel, co-owner of the Shell gas station at Dale Mabry Highway and Osborne Avenue, said he's parked about 10 customers since 2 p.m., when the game traffic started showing up. Customers pay $50 and then get a van ride down to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard – about a half-mile from the stadium – and will get picked up after the game. That price will hold, even as kickoff gets closer.

"Nobody is going to wait" (for a better price), he said.

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