President Barack Obama's Friday afternoon appearance at SXSW Interactive has Austin in full freakout mode, mostly because of fears of what it'll mean for traffic.
There's good reason for that: Past presidential visits to Austin have royally snarled traffic. And South by Southwest does a pretty good job all on its own of turning downtown into a commuter's nightmare.
American-Statesman transportation reporter Ben Wear chronicled the gridlock to come on Thursday's front page.
The city of Austin is encouraging its employees to work from home, and the Austin school district will end classes at 12:30 p.m. Friday -- just before Air Force One touches down -- at 16 campuses where traffic might be the biggest concern.
Obama will fly into Austin-Bergstrom International Airport about 1:10 p.m. He speaks at the Long Center for the Performing Arts at 2:30 p.m. That itinerary should keep the presidential motorcade south of downtown until after Obama's remarks at the Long Center. But later in the afternoon, he heads to a fundraiser at the Austin Music Hall at Third and Nueces streets on the west edge of downtown. That's when we might hit full meltdown.
It could be worse; it could be raining. In fact, the forecast calls for a rainy start to SXSW Interactive on Friday, and that's never good for Austin traffic, either.
So, good luck out there. Either embrace the madness or just stay away.
And we'll do it all again next week when Michelle Obama arrives Wednesday to catch some SXSW Music.
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