Influx Of Super Bowl Crowds Will Spur Road Closings

Tampa Bay area transportation officials expect more than 10,000 people will rent cars the week of Super Bowl XLIII.

Given that scenario and the fact several roads around Raymond James Stadium and in downtown Tampa will be blocked off, locals might be better off staying home.

But transportation officials insist they're ready for the blitz and say locals needn't worry about hitting the road next week - as long as they avoid traffic hot spots such as Channelside Drive, Dale Mabry Highway and Himes Avenue.

"We've been planning and coordinating this for more than a year. We're ready to welcome them with open arms," city Transportation Manager Tony Rodriguez said.

For visitors, transportation officials have pushed vigorously to get signs in place the past two weeks - especially on State Road 60 and George Bean Parkway - to help motorists navigate the tangle of roads near Tampa International Airport.

Officials last week opened a new ramp to funnel Pinellas County-bound traffic from the airport to the Howard Frankland Bridge and southbound Interstate 275.

Some tweaking of signs was still occurring this week, with engineers trying to divvy up the traffic between Tampa and St. Petersburg. On Wednesday, a portable electronic sign pointed cars right to Tampa and Spruce Street.

"We have taken the extra effort in the past week to make sure the signage at the airport is the best it can be," Department of Transportation spokesman John McShaffrey said, adding that more changes could happen before Super Bowl weekend.

The Monday and Tuesday after Super Bowl XXXV in 2001 saw about 10,800 cars returned to Tampa Bay area rental agencies, meaning at least that many drivers - virtually all from outside the area - will be tooling around Tampa ahead of or just after this year's game, which will be played Feb. 1.

The influx starts Saturday with the first of about 3,500 media representatives showing up and rolls into Sunday and Monday with arrival of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals organizations.

The biggest crush of visitors is anticipated to hit Jan. 29, when spectators who booked four-day hotel packages start to arrive. Many Bay area hotels are pushing the four-day packages.

Tourism and airport officials say they expect 100,000 visitors to the area, with about half arriving by plane and the majority showing up Jan. 29 and 30.

Blue One Transportation in Tampa said it plans to double its fleet of airport shuttles to 12 to get folks to their hotels, and the company expects to activate another 12 vehicles to get them to the game and Super Bowl-related events.

"We started getting calls [Monday], but we expect everything to start getting crazy on Saturday," office manager Pauline Madden said.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car said it's equally busy, but expects it can accommodate the influx.

All of that activity translates into heightened security, and for drivers that means roadblocks, detours and portable electronic signs going up along area highways, more so near the stadium and downtown. Look for that to happen the later part of next week

So far, only Tampa Bay Boulevard south of the stadium is shut down between Himes and Dale Mabry in anticipation of the start the NFL Experience fan event this weekend.

Here are some other impending bowl-related closings:

Just after midnight on game day, Himes and Dale Mabry, north-south corridors that straddle the stadium will be closed between Columbus Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Also on game day, streets east of the stadium between Columbus and MLK will be blocked off at Himes.

Jan. 29 through game day, Harbour Island Boulevard will be closed northbound from Harbour Island to Old Water Street (formerly St. Petersburg Times Forum Drive). Island residents and visitors can exit the island only on Beneficial Boulevard.

Jan. 29 through game day, Old Water Street will be one-way westbound from Channelside Drive to Florida Avenue. Eastbound traffic coming off Franklin Street will be routed north on Florida Avenue.

Other closings, not necessarily related to security, include:

On Jan. 28, Snow Avenue from Rome to Swann avenues in Hyde Park will be closed from 5:45 to 9 p.m. for a jazz performance.

Monday through Jan. 31, Eighth Avenue in Ybor City will be closed from 15th to 17th Street because of live broadcasts of Fox Sports Network's "Best Damn Sports Show Period."

On Jan. 30 and 31, Channelside Drive will be closed from Meridian Street to the traffic circle on Cumberland Street for the Bud Bowl block party.

As if things weren't confusing enough, the night before the Super Bowl, DOT plans to cover directional signs on major highways that point motorists to Raymond James Stadium.

That seemingly counterproductive move is necessary, DOT officials say, to avoid confusing fans who are assigned parking spaces at the stadium and given special maps directing them to stadium lots.

"We only have a couple of signs, one on the Courtney Campbell [Parkway] and one approaching the airport on Memorial [Highway]," McShaffrey said.