'Made In America' Forces Detours Throughout Center City
By Al Novack and Noel McLaren
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The Labor Day holiday is right around the corner, meaning it's time for the "Made in America" festivities on the Ben Franklin Parkway.
READ: Guide To The 2014 Made In America Festival
Preparations for the weekend event are well underway as crews continue to set up for the giant concert.
As the stages are built up for summer's final act, traffic is building up on nearby roads. Multiple lanes on the Ben Franklin Parkway are shut down for the weekend's Made in America concert and commuters aren't happy.
"It really shuts all this down for labor day," said Michelle Romano, who lives steps from the stages in Fairmount. She says as much as she'd love to be supportive of an event that brings more than $10 million into the city, she feels it lacks organization.
"It's horrible if you live here it's a mess," she said.
Including a downed stop light neighbors say was hit by a truck in the concert area. To avoid the morning commute mess, Romano opted to work from home.
Other neighbors say the traffic and the sound from the concert are just the price of progress. Monica Dougherty says she isn't even buying tickets, just opening her windows to hear grammy award winning artists right outside.
"Definitely a couple of blocks up into Fairmount you can hear it," she said. "Some people mind, but I don't."
Police have set up local detours around Eakins Oval and the Art Museum. The center lanes of the Parkway are shutdown, and the Spring Garden Street access from Eakins Oval is closed off. Only the outer lanes remain open.
Cross streets like 22nd Street are open with no turns allowed onto the Parkway. Your best bet, if you're heading into the city off the Vine Street Expressway -- avoid the Art Museum and Parkway area using the Broad Street exit. It may be an inconvenience, but you'll avoid all the roadblocks and street closings while the concert crews set up.
By 10 a.m. Friday, the full set of street closures will be in effect and they will remain closed until Tuesday, Sept. 2nd.
The full list of closures include:
– The Benjamin Franklin Parkway, beginning at 20th Street, extending through Eakins Oval and behind the Philadelphia Museum of Art
– 21st Street between Winter and Spring Garden streets
– 22nd Street between Winter and Fairmount streets
– 23rd Street between the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and Fairmount Avenue
– 24th Street between Fairmount and Pennsylvania avenues
– 25th Street between Fairmount and Pennsylvania avenues
– Spring Garden Street between 20th and 31st streets, including the Spring Garden Street tunnel
– Kelly Drive between 23rd Street and Fairmount Avenue
– Martin Luther King Drive between the Falls Bridge and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
– Pennsylvania Avenue between Hamilton and Fairmount avenues
– The 2000 block of Pennsylvania Avenue between the Whole Foods market and 21st Street (the eastern half of the block from the Whole Foods market to 20th Street will remain open to allow access to the store)
– Park Towne Place between 22nd and 24th streets
– The I-676 Westbound off-ramp at 22nd Street (the I-676 Eastbound off-ramp at 23rd Street will remain open)
Motorists are advised to avoid the area by using alternate routes, if possible, and to allow for extra driving time in the area.
There will be "no parking" restrictions in effect at the following locations:
– Pennsylvania Avenue between 22nd Street and Fairmount Avenue (south side of street)
– Winter Street between 20th and 22nd streets (both sides of street)
– 20th Street between Vine and Callowhill streets (east side of street)
– 21st Street between the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and Race Street (both sides of street)
– 22nd Street between Winter and Spring Garden streets (both sides of street)
– Park Towne Place between 22nd and 24th streets (both sides of street)
Train service on the SEPTA Broad Street Line subway and Market-Frankford el line will run all night Friday, Saturday and Sunday.