GILROY
– The completion of the extra lanes on U.S. 101 north of
Cochrane Road irons out one wrinkle in the usually stunted flow of
Garlic Festival traffic, but Garlic Festival volunteers and local
law enforcement are still working hard to help traffic flow
smoothly until drivers reach the park.
GILROY – The completion of the extra lanes on U.S. 101 north of Cochrane Road irons out one wrinkle in the usually stunted flow of Garlic Festival traffic, but Garlic Festival volunteers and local law enforcement are still working hard to help traffic flow smoothly until drivers reach the park.
An estimated 40,000 to 60,000 cars will pour into Christmas Hill Park for the 25th annual Garlic Festival Friday, Saturday and Sunday. However, the addition of two new lanes in each direction on U.S. 101 north of Morgan Hill has people wondering how traffic will be affected.
“Regardless of how many lanes there are on the freeway, there are still only two roads that come into the park, so I don’t see any major changes in the flow of traffic,” Parking Chairman Bob Wenholtz said.
Although the new lanes have eased the notorious bottleneck on northbound U.S. 101 for morning commuters and drivers traveling southbound no longer are stuck in traffic at Bernal Road, organizers fear southbound traffic for the Garlic Festival may hit a logjam at Cochrane Road when the lanes are reduced to three all of the way to Gilroy.
“Anytime you are opening a new freeway lane, the pile up doesn’t go away, it just moves to a different location,” Wenholtz said. “People will be driving right along thinking how much nicer it is this year, and then they’ll hit the back-up in San Martin and Gilroy.”
Gilroy Police Officer and Festival Traffic Chairman Stan Devlin said in order to dodge traffic delays, visitors should leave early and avoid trying to come to Gilroy during the peak traffic hours between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Festival gates open at 10 a.m.
“If people leave early enough, they can avoid the extra 30 minutes or hour they would spend sitting in traffic getting to Gilroy,” Devlin said.
Cal Tran trucks once again will be directing cars onto Masten Avenue, just south of San Martin, and Gilroy’s southernmost exit at Monterey Street, bringing them through designated festival paths to the two main parking lots on Santa Teresa Boulevard.
Visitors can just follow the festival signs and the smell of garlic.
“There is no need to worry about directions,” California Highway Patrol Officer Terry Mayes said. “There will be a CHP officer at almost every on-ramp and intersection directing visitors to the different gates.”
Mayes said everyone in her office – except for one person who’s on vacation – will be working the festival, making sure everything runs smoothly. That means a total of 17 to 21 officers will be on duty each day of the festival.
Once again, the festival will offer shuttles to carry guests from the 600 acres of parking lots to the festival grounds. The festival hopes to further utilize the shuttles this year to help keep cars moving through the parking lots.
“Instead of lining the first cars that come in the closest to the entrance, we will be lining them up the closest to the shuttles to utilize the use of the shuttles and shorten the time they are sitting there idling,” Wenholtz said.
Shuttles going to the ranch lot will be picking up and dropping off at Gate 5, which is by the new middle school. Gate 2, which goes to the other lots, is located by the handicapped parking lot. Those who park with handicap placards should make them as visible as possible.
Anyone who is lost or has questions about drop-offs and pick-ups should head to any of the information booths spread throughout the park. Wenholtz offered this tip for festivalgoers to get back to their cars without walking in circles for hours: Remember that the upper parking lot, located on upper Miller Avenue, is organized by letters, while the lower parking lot, also called the ranch lot, is organized by numbers.
“If someone parked their car by the letter G, then they know they’re in the upper lot,” Wenholtz said.
There to greet the thousands of visitors will be the hard-working parking volunteers.
“It’s not the most glamorous job,” Wenholtz said.
Parking opens at 7 a.m. and closes with the ticket booths at 6 p.m.
Some roads in town will be closed to through traffic or closed in one direction from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. daily.
Uvas Park and Tenth Street will be blocked off between Princevalle and Wren, The cross section of Miller and Eighth will be blocked and residential streets feeding into Tenth Street also will be closed.
Most of the closures are the same as in previous years, with the exception of a few streets being renamed in the area.
“We are just going to do things the same as we always have and hope for the best,” Devlin said.
