New Year's Eve Could Provide Test Run For Sacramento Kings Arena Traffic Plans
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The first traffic test for a new Sacramento Kings arena could be coming ten months before the team plays its first regular season game at the Golden 1 Center.
The city says its fireworks shows on New Year's Eve will serve as a traffic trial of sorts.
Handling the traffic from the crowd and their cars is the job of Sacramento Parking Manager Matt Eierman.
"Parking ultimately should be invisible," he said. "We're going to take this opportunity that we don't see very much in our downtown and learn from it."
The city's downtown fireworks show is expected to draw 40,000 people, and Eierman sees it as a test for handling traffic games when the Kings move from Sleep Train Arena in Natomas to Sacramento's downtown.
"This is really a good testbed for us, to actually look at the traffic and study it for Day 1," he said.
He wants people to be able to move their cars into downtown garages fast, and he's especially concerned about a bottleneck at J and Third streets. He'll open parking lanes on J Street to traffic, routing cars to I Street and freeway onramps.
The city has also set up a website that will show what downtown parking garages have spots available and an app will allow people to buy parking before arriving.
