From the final Braves regular season home stand to major indoor and outdoor music events, there will be lots of traffic headed into Atlanta over the next few days.
Here’s what you need to know to navigate metro roadways on a weekend filled with music, sporting events and, of course, road construction:
Music Midtown, Garth Brooks top weekend events: Thousands of music lovers will descend on Piedmont Park for Music Midtown festival, which begins at 4 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday.
Atlanta police are expecting more than 150,000 people, and are advising festival-goers to ride MARTA and to avoid parking illegally in Midtown neighborhoods surrounding the park.
“If you must drive, please be respectful of nearby homes and businesses,” police spokesman Ralph Woolfolk said. “Avoid blocking driveways and parking illegally.”
Woolfolk said several roads in the area of 10th Street between Myrtle Street and Monroe Drive will be closed.
If you’d prefer your music indoors, Garth Brooks plays the first five of seven Philips Arena concerts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Concert times are 6:30 and 10:30 Friday and Saturday nights and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday. The country star’s world tour returns to Philips for concerts on Sept. 26 and 27.
Motorists can expect a lot of traffic Saturday around the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center, where the BET Hip Hop Awards will be taped for airing later this fall. The event is not open to the public, according to the network.
Sporting events this weekend include Braves games against the Mets at Turner Field Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, and the Georgia Bulldogs-Troy Trojans football game at noon Saturday at Sanford Stadium in Athens.
Last weekend of summer weather will be delightful: Channel 2 meteorologist Karen Minton is predicting a mostly dry weekend, with a 20 percent chance of isolated Friday showers being the only mention of rain in her forecast. Highs will be in the low 80s, with overnight lows in the mid-60s. Check the full weekend forecast and track changes.
Dry forecast means plenty of weekend roadwork: David Spear, spokesman for the Georgia Department of Transportation, said GDOT crews and contractors expect to take advantage of the favorable forecast, particularly on the Perimeter and on I-20 on the east side of town.
Two southbound and one northbound lane of I-285 between Paces Ferry Road and Cobb Parkway will be shut down all weekend for sign structure installation, while concrete slab replacement will close two southbound lanes of the Perimeter between Atlanta Road and South Cobb Drive.
Also on the Perimeter, sign work between Memorial Drive and the Stone Mountain Freeway will close two northbound lanes from 9 p.m. Friday through 7 a.m. Saturday.
On I-20 in Rockdale and Newton counties, two westbound lanes will be closed all weekend between Almon and Salem roads, along with the westbound exit ramp to Salem Road.
On I-75 northbound just north of downtown, one lane will be shut down all weekend between Howell Mill and Moores Mill roads for drainage work.
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