Downtown Phoenix Inc.
Audio By Carbonatix
Downtown Phoenix traffic is always a crapshoot. The near-constant roadwork and the tangle of one-way streets create inherent challenges to driving in the city center under the best of circumstances.
Then, you add on events — maybe a Suns game at Mortgage Matchup Center or the recurring First Friday artwalk. Suddenly, you’re packing more cars into the narrow streets and some of those drivers may not be well-versed in the ways of Downtown Phoenix.
And then, you’ve got Friday, April 3.
The NCAA Women’s Final Four college basketball tournament is in town. South Carolina plays UConn at 4 p.m., then Texas takes on UCLA at 6:30. Both games will be played at Mortgage Matchup Center.
Outside the arena, the Phoenix Convention Center is hosting free public events with games, activities, giveaways and more, inside and out. Tourney Town, the indoors event, stops at 5 p.m., but Four It All Fest outside the convention center is open until the basketball games are over.
Next door to Mortgage Matchup Center and across the street from Phoenix Convention Center, a little sideshow called the Arizona Diamondbacks play the Atlanta Braves at 6:45 p.m.
It’s also First Friday, which brings thousands of people to Roosevelt Row and the surrounding area, making parking spots difficult to find and often expensive. Although Roosevelt Street won’t be closed off for vendors and foot traffic like usual, that doesn’t open up much more parking. First Friday generally runs from about 5 to 9 p.m., though the surrounding bars and restaurants can stay open much later.
Oh, and former Vice President Kamala Harris is appearing at Arizona Financial Theatre down the street at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Arizona Speaker Series.
(Honorable mention goes to “You Should Be Dancing — A Tribute to the Bee Gees” at Herberger Theater Center at 8 p.m.)
It all adds up, in our opinion, to a parking apocalypse, a perfect storm of car and foot traffic that fills our jaded hearts with dread.
Skyler Scott of Downtown Phoenix Inc. estimates that the basketball games and baseball game will draw about 17,000 people each. The indoor and outdoor events at Phoenix Convention Center will pull 23,000, and the capacity of Arizona Financial Theatre is 5,000 people. At its maximum, First Friday has drawn 20,000 people.
It adds up to the busiest weekend of the year for Downtown Phoenix.
“I can’t imagine what else would top it,” Scott says.
For those trying to get in on the action, Scott has a few tips.
Valley Metro Rail is going to be the best way to head downtown. There are park-and-ride lots all along the way, and rail fare is only $2 each way. And if you’re going to any event at Mortgage Matchup Center, there’s no cost to ride.
Another option is reserving a spot in advance using the Park PHX website, which debuted last year. The interactive map shows available parking spots along with the fee to park there, and users can book their spot before they head downtown.
Last, Scott advises that people use the knowledge of the Downtown Phoenix Ambassadors, the folks in the orange shirts you’ll find hanging out on sidewalks.
“Talk to the Ambassadors, because they know downtown in and out,” she says. “If you lose your car; if you have a car battery issue. They can do so many things that you can’t tell just by looking at them. They know downtown like the back of their hands.”
