Last week the Atlanta Braves held a press conference to begin to lay out their traffic plan for new Suntrust Park and try to alleviate some fears about the possible gridlock fans and commuters will encounter as they head through the very busy Interstate 75 and Interstate 285 interchange.
The headline of the press conference was that the Braves plan to move the start times of games on weekdays to 7:30pm a full 20 minutes later than the current 7:10 first pitch times.
I think this is great for two reasons. One, it actually could have a huge impact on decreasing traffic in that busy corridor and two, that means fewer abbreviated Chuck and Chernoff shows for afternoon drive commuters.
Can a 20 minute push back of the games really have that big of an impact on traffic? I really think it could. Atlanta’s only airborne traffic reporters, Mark McKay and Doug Turnbull of WSB Radio agree.
“On most evenings I-285 and I-75 volume decreases after 7 p.m. so I think that 7:30 p.m. start times at SunTrust Park do make sense,” McKay said.
Turnbull flies high above the evening rush hour every day in the WSB Skycopter so he sees first hand the traffic patterns for the weekday commute.
“I think moving the start time as far out of rush hour as possible is a great thing,” Turbnull said. “But it will not guarantee that everyone makes first pitch on really bad days. But their stats show and our experience as traffic reporters does show that rush hour is dramatically better on the average day after 6:30 p.m.”
Traffic to Turner Field has always been an issue for the Braves and their fans, especially at games with large crowds. When I went to Opening Day this year, even as an experienced traffic reporter, I didn’t arrive at the stadium until the middle of the second inning.
“We recognize that traffic in the Atlanta area is an issue and certainly has been a key frustration at Turner Field before and after ballgames,” Mike Plant, the Braves President of Development, said in a statement.
According to Ross Cavitt of WSB-TV who covered the press conference, the Braves hired traffic experts, who said traffic in the area drops off dramatically between 7 and 7:30 p.m., so pushing back the first pitch will make a big difference.
“It’s a 30 percent drop in traffic volumes, so it’s a significant drop between rush hour and the time before the first pitch,” said Rob Ross, a Kimley-Horn engineer.
The engineers and the traffic reporters agree, the first-pitch push back to 7:30 will only help the inevitable traffic woes getting to the new ballpark. Will it guarantee that there will be no big backups for Braves fans and commuters getting through the region? No, of course not. But, in my opinion, it is a brilliant first step by the organization to make sure fans don’t miss any Freddie Freeman at bats in the first inning and that Cobb commuters don’t get home when dinner is cold.
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