Final Four to bring lots of traffic to downtown Atlanta this weekend

So you’re planning on driving downtown for this weekend’s Final Four basketball games, fan festivities and free concerts. The best advice: Don’t. Take MARTA instead.

Atlanta police are expecting more than 100,000 people per day to make their way into downtown, so if you absolutely must drive, leave early and pack plenty of patience, because traffic is bound to be a mess with some roads closed from now until Monday.

In addition to the Final Four events centered around the Georgia Dome and Centennial Olympic Park, the Braves have home games Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon at Turner Field, and the Hawks play Philadelphia on Friday night at Philips Arena.

At 7:30 a.m. Saturday, a Final Four 5K road race will begin at the Georgia World Congress Center, and the Division II and III championship basketball games will be held Sunday at Philips Arena.

The weekend’s “main event,” the Final Four, tips off with Saturday’s semi-final games at the Georgia Dome, followed by Monday night’s championship game at the Dome.

If there’s a bright spot in the predictions of traffic gloom and doom, it’s that the roads should be dry all weekend.

While the weather might not cooperate for Thursday night’s Braves-Phillies game, Thursday’s rain should give way by Friday afternoon to sunny skies that will prevail through Monday. Despite Thursday’s chilly temperatures in the 40s, forecasters are promising highs in the 70s Saturday through Monday.

Free concerts will add to traffic

Doug Turnbull in the AM750 and 95.5FM News/Talk WSB Traffic Center highlights that the free concerts are likely to bring in non-basketball fans, further complicating the traffic.

“Not only will the basketball games bring the masses, but free concerts all afternoon and evening Friday through Sunday will jam traffic in the area,” Turnbull said. “Parking will be at a premium, so take MARTA to any downtown event this weekend.”

Those free concerts, featuring acts such as the Zac Brown Band, Ludacris, Sting and the Dave Matthews Band, will all be held at Centennial Olympic Park, which will open to concert-goers at 3 p.m. Friday, noon Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Advice from MARTA

MARTA spokeswoman Cara Hodgson said extra trains will be running Friday through Monday, and additional staff and transit police will be on hand to assist customers.

Hodgson reminds riders that while parking for up to 24 hours is free at all of MARTA’s daily parking facilities, customers parking in the decks at the Lindbergh Center station must park in designated areas and validate their parking tickets at machines inside the station to receive free daily parking. In addition to the free lots, there are designated lots which charge a fee at the Lenox, Brookhaven, Kensington and College Park stations.

Suggested routes from APD

Atlanta police spokeswoman Elizabeth Espy had the following suggestions for drivers “who absolutely must drive into the city”:

Coming from the north, exit I-75 at Northside Drive and follow it south to the Dome.

Other exits from I-75/85 southbound include Williams Street or Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, but both of these are expected to back up early.

From the South, drivers on I-75/85 should take the International Boulevard, Fulton Street or Central Avenue exits.

Fans coming in on I-20 east should use the Windsor/Spring Street exit, while the best exits on I-20 west are Capitol Avenue or Windsor Street.

Weekend road construction halted

The state Department of Transportation is doing its part to ease traffic headed into town by limiting most interstate construction all weekend. The exception will be in Clayton County, where construction could shut down one lane of I-75 in each direction between Ga. 54 and I-285 from 9 p.m. Friday through 4 a.m. Monday.

Street and lane closures

Finally, expect to find numerous downtown streets and lanes closed this weekend.