Atlanta Braves fans say new park has easier access for baseball games
SunTrust Park will fully open for the Braves’ home opener on April 14, but Friday’s spring training game gives a chance to see what getting to the park could be like.
CUMBERLAND — Friday’s exhibition game served not just as a “test run” of SunTrust Park, but also for traffic in and around the Cumberland area on game nights. While several Braves fans said they believed area roads and those directing traffic on them passed the test, some fans had a few reasons to take points off.
Jordan Brinkley came from his workplace at W.R. Bristow near Dobbins Air Reserve Base, taking Cobb Parkway down to the stadium. The 27-year-old Sandy Springs resident left the office about 4:45 p.m., arriving at the park right about 5 p.m.
“Overall, around the stadium, (traffic) wasn’t too bad,” said Brinkley, who said he had a co-worker take him and drop him off. He attributed the quick ride to his early departure but also the stadium’s location.
“I think I beat some of the traffic, but I think there’s just a lot of different ways to get to the stadium, which is nice . ... Not everyone going to the game has to go and get off on one exit,” he said. From his experience Friday, he believes using ridesharing services such as Uber would be the best way to be taken to a game.
Among those able to walk to the game were sisters Emmaline and Rosy Harvey, who reside in Brookhaven but work in Cumberland. The two walked from Rosy Harvey’s office on Powers Ferry Road.
While the sisters estimated
their walk took just 15 minutes from Powers Ferry and down Windy Ridge Road, they said the infrastructure they saw along their trek wasn’t quite finished.
“I’m a little concerned, there’s no streetlights, and the sidewalks aren’t quite ready for pedestrian traffic,” Rosy Harvey said. “I saw some (streetlights) that looked like they were going up — they were halfway there.”
In addition to some areas close to the stadium, some sidewalk paths also remained unfinished around The Battery Atlanta, the mixed-use development next door to the stadium.
The Cumberland Circulator, Cobb Linc’s newest bus service, has three routes that began running Friday morning. Two routes, originating and ending at the Cumberland Transit Center, have stops at SunTrust Park and The Battery.
“You certainly have to have a plan in place before you come to the game,” Emmaline Harvey said.
Effects of I-85 overpass collapse
County officials earlier Friday had warned that Interstate 75 would be getting more drivers due to rerouted traffic from Ga. 400, I-285 and I-85, the latter of which saw an overpass collapse in Midtown Atlanta after a fiery blaze Thursday night. The
incident has closed a portion of I-85 indefinitely.
Friday afternoon, Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry said about 700 feet of the affected bridge will need to be rebuilt — a project that will take “several months.”
Lawrenceville resident Jennifer Pinson-Harvey, a self-employed attorney and mediator, had worked in Marietta on Friday morning, and drove back to Gwinnett County before heading to the game.
“We left Gwinnett around 5:15 p.m., went to Dunwoody, we took I-85 to 285 to Chamblee-Dunwoody Road, picked (friends) up in Dunwoody, came back roads here. Very little traffic — easy, organized, incredible. We literally had no traffic,” she said just after arriving at her parking spot around 6:40 p.m. She believes the I-85 incident may have even helped conditions on area roads Friday.
“I think people were afraid to drive today because of all of the issues, and I think it’s just been very organized,” Pinson-Harvey added. “The police have everything beautifully organized.”
As for SunTrust Park’s true opening — the Braves’ regular season home opener on April 14 — Pinson-Harvey said she doesn’t quite know what to expect as it comes to traffic.
“I hope it will be just as organized, if not better,” she said. “So far, I am so impressed.”