Rollingwood prepares for ACL parking problems
It's that time of year again. The 14th annual Austin City Limits Festival begins Friday. With thousands descending on Austin this weekend, traffic and parking are issues for the neighborhoods surrounding Zilker Park.
People travel from across the country, and even the world, to enjoy the Austin City Limits Music Festival lineup.
“We have a history of having a really great event out here,” Marketing Manager for C3 Presents Brooke Leal said.
Organizers are expecting 150,000 fans to invade Zilker Park over the next two weekends.
Each year the nearby city of Rollingwood takes on a load.
“We start planning this several months before. Rollingwood is right up against Zilker Park. It's a very convenient place for festival goers to park,” Rollingwood Police Department Chief said Dayne Pryor said.
In the past, the small city nestled next to Zilker Park could see up to two-thousand cars a day parked on the residential streets. This year, police say all who park in the area must have a permit.
“If they're not here to visit a resident, they're not going to be able to park on the residential streets,” Pryor said.
“We work really closely with the surrounding neighborhoods to make sure that that's there's no parking in the neighborhoods,” Leal said.
That's why organizers and police encourage festival-goers to catch a cab, walk, or use one of this year's sponsor which is Uber.
“It's a safe option, Uber, taxi cabs and they've been very helpful in the past,” Pryor said.
The most important thing at ACL is safety. Police and organizers are working diligently to make sure this year's ACL will not be someone's last.
“We work closely with our security team, and the Austin Police Department to make sure everybody here on sight is having a good time but being safe while they're here,” Pryor said.
Rollingwood police say as an alternative to residential street parking, there are over 1,000 parking spaces on Bee Caves Road near the entrance to the festival. You can take that into consideration.