Fowler: “show will provide good publicity and exposure for N.C. State” / Horrible parking woes @ C-F ruin concert for many

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Another person wrote, “I was very disappointed with what I witnessed last evening. I will never participate in any event at Carter Finley Stadium or RBC Center in Raleigh AGAIN! I have seen many concerts over the years and the way this (traffic) was handled was a joke.”

Just checked the N&O blog to read a review of the U2 concert at CF last night. People are irate about the traffic situation. Check out the comments section of this article.

WRAL.com checks in “Traffic problems cause some people to miss U2 concert“

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36 Responses to Fowler: “show will provide good publicity and exposure for N.C. State” / Horrible parking woes @ C-F ruin concert for many

  1. StateFans 10/04/2009 at 5:27 PM #

    Concessions ran out of water 45 mins into the show 🙂

  2. SMD 10/04/2009 at 8:00 PM #

    While some of the traffic problems can be chalked up to the difference between using the RBC Center side and the Trinity Rd. side – “some” of the problems are from people just not using common sense.

    I’ve got plenty of sympathy for someone who may be coming from out of town and may not know any better – but if you live in the Triangle, ever go to any State games or the state fair – it’s just common sense to come in the back end of Trinity Rd off of Hwy 54. Heck, you don’t even have to go Trinity the whole way. You can take Corporate Center Dr., or the road after that and they both run back into Trinity behind the stadium and RBC Center.

    We skipped the opening band on purpose, left the Ale House in Cary (and the Pack loss 🙁 ) about 7:30 and were parked in the third row from the front of the RBC Center within 15-20 minutes. We literally had no traffic until the actual RBC parking lot.

    Exiting was a breeze and we were out in 10 minutes, and yes, we stayed for the whole show.

    In sum – difficulties are always going to exist along Trinity Rd. Keep that in mind when arriving for an event and come in the back way. Afterwards, if your parking happens to be in SE on the Trinity side, then just get your lawn chair back out, sit and enjoy post-event tailgating for another hour.

    An hour hanging out beats an hour sitting with your car running going nowhere.

  3. john of sparta 10/04/2009 at 8:25 PM #

    Last Millennium: 1998.
    Celine Dion @ Dean Dome.
    traffic is nuts. abandoned cars.
    CD delays start of concert. easy button.
    (my wife was in that mess)
    and yes, ticket holders from “out of town”
    who had Never Been There Before were trying
    to follow the NCS Highway Patrol directions.
    (1998…GPS? what was that?)
    +1 to SMD…common sense.
    CD showed hers.

  4. packof81 10/04/2009 at 8:34 PM #

    I’ve come to expect a snafu of parking at every event I attend over there, whether it’s the fair, football games or hockey games. I thought the hockey parking was bad but with 3 times as many cars, this must have taken the prize. To pay $250 for a concert ticket is outrageous enough but to pay that and not see the show because there’s nowhere to park is breathtaking.

  5. wolfpack95 10/04/2009 at 11:14 PM #

    We left our house in N Raleigh at 6, parked at Cardinal Gibbons around 6:30—and there was PLENTY of parking available—30 minutes before Muse opened.
    We were in our seats by 7.
    Most of the stadium looked full by 8:30—when U2 took stage.
    It took us 2 hours to get out of Cardinal Gibbons and back onto Edwards Mill after the show.

    I have NO sympathy for those that missed the concert. Sixty thousand plus were at the concert. NO ONE with any shred of common sense should have expected reasonable parking if they arrived with less than 30 minutes before the concert. Shame on them, but it is no one’s fault but their own.

  6. Hot Sauce 10/04/2009 at 11:30 PM #

    According to reports that I’ve heard, NC State received 200k plus all proceeds of parking and concessions. My friend who was there said that they did run out of water and that traffic was absolutely horrible. Its a shame that we blow another chance to show off the University us Pack fans love so much.

    SFN: Couldn’t have made that much on concessions when some concessions were empty an hour into the show. Classic!

  7. 61Packer 10/05/2009 at 12:26 AM #

    After the traffic nightmare following the South Carolina game, I remember hearing over the news that a new traffic pattern flow would go into effect, eliminating the backup in the pay parking lots around the stadium. Part of the plan would be to allow fans exiting Gate B to go straight across Trinity Road and continue straight on Youth Center Road until reaching Hillsborough Street, then going west and away from the Fairgrounds area. The next two games were so lopsided that most fans left well before the games ended and we couldn’t see any tangible results. But then came the Pitt game.

    It turned out to be even worse than the South Carolina game. Exiting from the Stadium Southeast parking lot, I was among the first to leave my parking spot but still spent 30 minutes in the Southeast lot before reaching Gate B. But instead of allowing traffic to go straight across Trinity onto Youth Center, AWAY from the stadium, we were forced to go right onto Trinity, TOWARD the stadium. I spent at least 30 minutes getting from Gate B to Edwards Mill Road, and then it was the same wait getting to Nowell Road. Had I been allowed to get on Youth Center, and had both lanes of that road carried outbound traffic, I would have been home at least 45 minutes sooner.

    The problem that created this mess was allowing two-way traffic on Trinity in front of the stadium. There are no parking lots on the eastbound side of Trinity between Gate B and Edwards Mill, so why was traffic allowed over there? This traffic was forced to turn right onto Youth Center in front of Gate B, blocking the best Gate B exit. And those who didn’t want to go that way were making u-turns back onto westbound Trinity, further snarling our exit.

    Trinity Road should be WESTBOUND ONLY from Gate B to Edwards Mill Road following the games. It is insane to allow two-way traffic in front of the stadium then, much less to force traffic that’s leaving the stadium parking lot to come back toward the stadium.

    Every main road leading away from the stadium, including Blue Ridge, Edwards Mill and Hillsborough, should have all its lanes opened to exiting traffic ONLY so the stadium can be quickly emptied out. I’ve attended several Michigan games, and as soon as the game is over, you can watch traffic moving at normal speed leaving the stadium area until everyone is out. The reason is because all lanes of all roads around the stadium are outbound only. No one is allowed to drive TOWARD the stadium at that time. Will the DOT and NCSU morons ever figure this one out?

  8. tootallorder 10/05/2009 at 7:38 AM #

    We had no problems leaving downtown Raleigh at 6 and in an RBC parking spot by 6:30. The stage setup and concert was spectacular. I bought a water, coke and chicken sandwich after the Muse — there seemed to be plenty of everything left at 8:45pm. Carter Finley looked amazing, the sound was perfect, incredible weather, the spaceship lights were in full effect, and the crowd was very respectful and involved. Sorry that people had to drink cokes instead of waters 3 hours into a sold out stadium show.

  9. GAWolf 10/05/2009 at 8:35 AM #

    How hard is it to assign this conundrum to a higher level civil engineering class at State as a project to come up with possible solutions? It’s free… the kids learn something… and it’s great practical application of what they’re trying to teach anyway.

    But of course that would make way too much sense.

  10. Bubba 10/05/2009 at 8:59 AM #

    Thought the show was average at best. There were some vendors that ran out of water, but we found plenty about mid way thru the concert on the West side………….

    We also had no trouble with traffic, seeemed to move about the same pace as a weekend hockey game. All in all a nice experience. Not sure why all the bitching, You should always expect a few unhappy folks out of 60,000

    SFN: Very true. But the media doesn’t make such a big deal about problems at ever other event…so, it does tend to indicate that this had more problems than the average event.

  11. primacyone 10/05/2009 at 8:59 AM #

    Last I checked, which was last Saturday at the PITT Game, CF had running water!

    Best I can remember, CF has had running water since the stadium opened!

    Didn’t hear of anything regarding a main water line burst, and unless that was the case, seems impossible that CF could run out of water!

  12. Noah 10/05/2009 at 9:11 AM #

    I had absolutely no problems.

    We left our house around 5 p.m. and stopped to get some food. We went 440>Wade Ave>Edwards Mill Road. We ran into no traffic before getting to the bottom of the ramp for Edwards Mill. We were in our spot at the RBC Center and managed to eat and listen to most of the third quarter and part of the fourth.

    We got into the stadium well before Muse took the stage and we stayed for the entire show. We left our seats around 11 p.m. after the lights were back up. We walked from the opposite side of the stadium back to the RBC Center, back to our car and got to Wade Avenue by 11:40.

    It looked like traffic was backing up for people coming from the west. And part of the problem was that clueless parking attendants were directing people into sections that were already full.

    When Muse took the stage, the place was starting to fill up. When they left the stage, it was mostly full. I saw a few stragglers when “Major Tom” started to play…but the idea of delaying the concert because a couple of dozen people were running late is ridiculous. When they started “Breathe,” that place was packed.

    As far as concessions, everyone around me managed to find something to eat or drink it seemed. I needed some water during “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” (second half of the show) and didn’t have any trouble getting out. Went to the bathroom and drank some slightly rusty water from the sink, took a whiz and was back in my seat a couple of minutes later.

    Awesome show. Great performance and great presentation. The weather was perfect and the people around me were well-behaved. I have no complaints at all.

  13. PackMan97 10/05/2009 at 9:22 AM #

    primacyone, some folks will only drink Raleigh City Water if it’s bottled up and has an Aquafina label on it.

  14. Alpha Wolf 10/05/2009 at 9:41 AM #

    The Human Time Delay, also known as My Lovely Wife, can be late to anything. And I mean anything at all. Saturday was no exception. She was so slow getting ready to leave on time (people from out of town were waiting on us) that I decided to tailgate in my freaking driveway for forty-five listening to the game on the radio. And answer the phone from people asking where the hell we were. I love her, but goodness gracious sakes alive, she had all day to get ready to go to this concert and waited until the last minute. Again.

    It got better. She announced on the way to the show after we had picked up friends that she had forgotten our tickets, and forgotten the keys to her office, leaving us to wander around Cary looking for a computer to rent to print copies of the tickets. I never knew FeEx Kinko’s didn’t allow secure connections from their slow-ass computers (you rent by the minute, go figure.) Thoroughly exasperated, backtracked to a friend’s house on Lake Wheeler Road, halfway back home, to reprint the ducats she left on the table.

    FINALLY, after five we headed to CFS, and parked in the Vet School Parking lot.

    NO PROBLEMS. Cutting down Blue Ridge from Western left us only three lights to deal with, the HP was fast and efficient and we were in our spot in 20 minutes, top. Long enough to actually tailgate, and take our time to head over to the show…which we got into on time.

    Leaving, no problem. We waited an hour or so, enjoying a late tailgate.

    If there were traffic problems, it probably was people trying to jam the same roads.

    Too bad for them, but I really didn’t see any problems on Blue Ridge or Hillsborough. I honestly believe traffic problems were due to people leaving late and coming in from the highway.

  15. packof81 10/05/2009 at 9:51 AM #

    So Fowler said this would reflect well on NC State? Wow. What a disconnect. Look at the design of that area and the way event traffic is handled and tell me traffic flow was anything but an afterthought.

  16. WV Wolf 10/05/2009 at 9:55 AM #

    Another point on delaying the show, isn’t there some sort of ordinance in Raleigh about concerts having to end at 11pm? Seems like every outdoor show I’ve been to in Raleigh at Walnut Creek or Downtown Live ends at 11, as did U2. You can delay a indoor show with no problem but an outdoor show with a time limit, not so much. And like Noah said, the place was pretty full when U2 went on.

    I had no problems with traffic getting in, came down Trinity off 54 around 6 and had zero traffic. Parked behind Wendy’s, Lee Fowler wasn’t getting my 20 bucks. Had some traffic delays getting out but nothing unreasonable.

    I think the big traffic problem was all the people unfamiliar with that area all taking the Wade Ave exit and all at the same time. You’ve got to plan ahead and think that 60,000 people hitting the main entrance at the same time is going to be chaos and research alternate routes.

  17. Alpha Wolf 10/05/2009 at 10:04 AM #

    ^ Yes, Raleigh has a noise ordinance that pretty much shuts down concerts at 11pm. I think that the volume at Walnut Creek is limited as well. My take on that is this: if you don’t like the sound of airplanes, don’t live at the end of the runway.

    As for the traffic, I feel bad for some people, but really, I think a lot of them have to share some blame for poor planning. We got there late (by MY standards) but had no problems w/ traffic or parking. That may have been because I knew better than to ever try to come in from the north or west sides of CFS/RBC complex. Even for a typical hockey game, traffic can be slow that way.

    At the same time, DOT, NCSU, the Dept. of Agriculture (State Fairgrounds) and the HP need to get their heads out of their asses and do a comprehensive plan to move people in and out of that area more efficiently. They could have closed the Flea Market early, for example, and used the entire fairgrounds parking. But nooooooo, everything’s fiiiiiiine. So typical of anything that has anything at all to do with the State of North Carolina.

  18. Noah 10/05/2009 at 10:13 AM #

    The rules for Walnut Creek were put in place because the houses were there first. There were hearings between the developers, the city and the homeowners for what…two years(?) before they came to an agreement. The concerts end by 11 and they get tickets (or they did) to a certain number of shows.

    Some bands have gone past 11, but they get fined. I can’t remember who it was, but I was at a show in the early 90s where the singer announced from the stage that they had already agreed to pay the fine…but they were playing on. (big roar).

    I’ll be the last one to defend or praise Lee Fowler, but how did this NOT reflect well on NC State? Any time 60,000 people decide to do anything, some of them are going to have a bad time. The number of people who missed part of the concert is pretty small.

  19. Bubba 10/05/2009 at 10:21 AM #

    “I’ll be the last one to defend or praise Lee Fowler, but how did this NOT reflect well on N C State? ”

    This

  20. MatSci94 10/05/2009 at 10:28 AM #

    “But the media doesn’t make such a big deal about problems at ever other event…so, it does tend to indicate that this had more problems than the average event.”

    This is true *if* the media is unbiased. It would be interesting to see if the ticket sellers (whoever has to deal with complaints for paid tickets) would comment on the number of complaints here vs similarly sized shows, but I’d be surprised if anyone would ever comment on that.

  21. ldr of the pk 75 10/05/2009 at 10:28 AM #

    “primacyone” Agree with your assessment. My scotch has always been just fine in a cup of ice with just a splash from the water fountain.

    That aside, Jed just doesn’t seem to understand missed opportunity. 2 or 3 years ago in either the first or second home football game it was hot as hell, and the bottled water ran out before halftime.

    It’s a joke that anyone regularly pays $2-4 for a bottle of water, but couldn’t we accomodate these idiots with a better supply? I guess we don’t need the money.

    By the way, I surely thought all of Bonos fans were “green”. Shame on you for all the plastic refuse.

  22. Alpha Wolf 10/05/2009 at 10:41 AM #

    ^ You shouldn’t ruin a good Scotch with ice. A drop of water to awaken the nose is all a good single malt needs.

    I kid, really. I always say to enjoy it how you like it, save for the very drunk sorority girl who wanted to mix a MacLellan’s and Coke. YGTBFKM.

  23. old13 10/05/2009 at 10:50 AM #

    Any time 60,000 people decide to do anything, some of them are going to have a bad time. The number of people who missed part of the concert is pretty small.

    Noah, I agree with your first statement. But it seems to me that having anyone miss an event because of traffic (or other issues) directly associated with event planning is a poor reflection on the event and would reflect poorly on those associated with it.

  24. Noah 10/05/2009 at 11:04 AM #

    59,900 people managed to find their way to their seats. The other 100 need to leave the house sooner.

    Alpha Wolf – I can’t help but read your post and hear Steely Dan’s “Hey Nineteen” in my head…

  25. Alpha Wolf 10/05/2009 at 11:08 AM #

    ^ Yeah, leave at 6:15 for a 7pm hockey game with less than 1/3 the crowd that came in to CFS Saturday and see if you get in for the puck drop.

    A lot of those people waited for the last minute, and a lot of the blame for their woe is solely on their part.

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