Troopers Prepare for Game Day Traffic

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Columbia , S.C. (WOLO) — On Saturday, thousands of Gamecock fans are expected to descend on Columbia for the first home game of the season. With that, comes traffic. State troopers are managing traffic control to make sure fans get in and out of the city smoothly. “We don‘t want traffic to back up on the interstate,” said Trooper David Jones. “When you‘re attempting to get 100,000 people into one small area in a 2 or 3 hour time frame it can get quite congested.” Trooper David Jones is among the troopers who will be out on patrol at the stadium Saturday to control traffic. Jones says before and after the game 4 or 5 lanes of Bluff Road will all travel in one direction to move more cars in and out of Williams Brice Stadium. “We‘ll reverse lanes to where pre-game there may only be one lane outbound and the rest of the lanes will be reversed to come into the stadium,” said Jones. Jones says many of the traffic patterns will remain the same this season but there will be less parking available which could hinder the flow of traffic as people look for a spot. “If you are coming to tailgate and hangout at Williams Brice Stadium and you don‘t know exactly where you‘re going to be parking at go ahead and leave early, be prepared,” said Jones. “Understand that there’s going to be some traffic congestion especially for this first game.” Jone says the congestion doesn‘t just come from more cars coming into town, but also more foot traffic and people not properly using pedestrian walkways and crosswalks. “Once traffic starts to stop for these pedestrians it’s going to create an accordion affect and it could last for several minutes or it could last for upwards of an hour if we have a blockage,” said Jones. Jones reminds fans to obey pedestrian crossings and give yourself plenty of time to get to the stadium prior to the game. For updated traffic information on game day, you can follow Jones on twitter @SCHP_Troop1.