Updated: You know about the football field, but what about the traffic plan?
A Los Angeles NFL team playing in a shiny new stadium is still years away, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to start thinking about traffic on game days.…
By Saul Gonzalez • • 1 min readToday, Anschutz Entertainment Group, the company behind the plan to build Farmers Field in downtown L.A,. comes out with its draft environmental impact report on the stadium project, a big part of which deals with congestion and how to reduce before and after games. There will be a 45-day public comment period after the report is released.
What are some of the reports traffic highlights? AEG wants to widen the perpetually gridlocked northbound Hollywood (101) Freeway by adding a lane. On the more high-tech side, AEG wants to develop a real-time smart phone app to help fans navigate their way to the stadium and find parking while avoiding congestion hot spots.
The company is also suggesting that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority add more rail cars to the nearby Blue Line and that a bus system be developed that takes fans from satellite parking lots to Farmers Field, that’s similar to what the Hollywood Bowl has been doing for years.
The stadium- if it’s built, and that’s a whole other story- is expected to hold 73,000 fans. No word about where the prime tailgating parties will be held.
UPDATE: The plans were released this morning (link here) and KCRW spoke with Ryan Snyder, a transportation expert about the plan. He says that the location is excellent from a transit perspective. He says the freeway improvements mean more people will drive, which isn’t good, but that improvements to metro and a bike valet service are positives. Listen below: