Brazil vs Mexico vs me
By oddjob60 - Thu, 09/13/2007 - 9:34am.
So I'm not surprised that the Brazil vs Mexico soccer game was a big draw. (67,584 people, it says here.)
But should I have expected the 11-mile traffic crawl that started 2 miles before the 95-128 split, and continued all the way to Rt. 1 in Walpole?
Oh, and Brazil won, 3-1. Party on.
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Account from the stadium
K'chie was there:
We Didn't Make It
After taking an hour and a half to get from "2 miles away from the Rt. 1 exit" to "1 mile away from the Rt. 1 exit", we realized by the time we crawled down Route 1, parked, walked to the stadium and got to our seats, we'd sit down just in time to hear the final whistle. So technically, 67,579 people.
Why didn't the T run service to Foxboro for this game?
If they had, the entire traffic jam could have been avoided. They run trains for every Patriots game, from both Boston and Providence, and this was just as big an event.
One Theory
One of my friends suggested that the size of the traffic jam, in some part, may have been due to a lot of people who didn't have tickets, but wanted to go down just to be in the parking lots and the tailgate parties and celebrate (or mourn) after the game with their countrymen. So there were probably a lot more than 67,000 people headed down there last night.
Because?
They basically scheduled the game for the evening rush hour and the MBTA/MBCR didn't have any spare trains?
T has dealt with weeknight Pats games before
The Patriots have occasionally played on Monday nights, and the T has run service to those games. They even ran service to a Thursday night preseason game last month, according to this page.
Trains or not, on Pats nights...
... the jam-up is usually even worse in terms of its impact on Rte. 128 S caused by the backup from Rte. 1S, in my experience. Ditto for the Parrot-Head pilgrimages to Foxborough.
Or pretty much any event there during the week ...
128 was a nightmare when the Stones played there, too.
Too bad it's not a domed stadium - imagine the fun if they had a big concert during Christmas shopping season after their mall is finished!
not really rush hour, either
Game time was 8:30. I hit the traffic at about 8pm, and got out of it at about 9:15.
True, not really rush hour, but ...
I was on 128 south at rush hour. Let's just say it's a good thing I got off at Rte. 9 instead of continuing onto Great Plain Avenue.
But in terms of the T, yep, you're both right; I withdraw my uninformed question.
I was on 128 south at rush
At 6:30 I hit heavy traffic around 135, so I got off at that point and took side roads to Canton. I knew it wasn't a Patriots night, so I wondered if it was a Jimmy Buffet show, but apparently that took place Saturday.
Boo traffic
Ugh, my friends and I left Medford for the game at 6:45, thinking we had plenty of time. We MISSED the entire game because of traffic! The only good thing that happened last night was that Brazil won.
Yeah, missed it too
We left Cambridge at 6.40 and missed the entire game too. Most frustrating experience of my life. Also rented a car to go, so in addition to the ticket cost, also had to pay for that.
Never going to Foxboro again.
Photos from the match
Here.
I missed most of the game.
I missed most of the game. left Kenmore at 6:30, arrived for the final 10 minutes. Parking was free..but it took THREE hours to leave the lot!
Our car finally was allowed onto route 1 at 1:30am. And then another 30 minutes to get to 1-95. And then another 1.5 hours to get into Boston due to 75% closure of 1-93
also missed due to traffic nightmare
extremely dissappointed...left with 3 hours to travel 26 miles, spent 150 on two tickets...screwed by bad planning...glad to hear the damn trains weren;t even an option, now I don't feel as bad...
I would have taken the train
I would have taken the train for sure if it were available. I dont think Im ever going back to the stadium though, the planning was inexcusable.
traffic
I feel lucky. I left harvard square at 7pm and made it in time for the final 30 minutes. I did a lot of back road driving using my GPS. Oh, after the game I didn't get out of the parking lot till 1:30 AM. I ran into the traffic on 93 and took local roads back to arlington. Made it home by 3:10 am.
It was still worth it. But I wouldn't do it again for a while.
Just Like Mexico City
I just returned from a week long trip to the second largest megacity in the world.
The traffic disaster sounds very familiar. I'm sure team Mexico fans (and a good deal of Brazilian fans, if my coworkers are correct) felt right at home in the major car mess at what we would consider to be an off hour. At least most of the cars weren't 20 year old VW Bugs with no emissions control equipment, or foul belching trucks and minibuses!
That still doesn't excuse the lack of planning. We shouldn't be running things like a developing country.
I brought a Brazilian to the
I brought a Brazilian to the game. He said that he felt right at home in the traffic, but even he couldn't believe that the traffic continued all the way through the second half and that could take 3 hours to get out of a parking lot.