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Tallahassee City Commissioner Concerned About FSU-Miami Traffic

Scott Maddox
Posted at 5:58 PM, Oct 06, 2015
and last updated 2015-10-06 15:01:32-04

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL)--Thousands of people are making their plans to attend the Florida State-Miami rivalry game this weekend at Doak or at least enjoy some tailgating near the stadium.

Lots of people will be out on the roads and Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Maddox is very concerned about the traffic patterns especially when it comes to leaving the football game.

For instance, Maddox says there is no dedicated bus lane that goes to and from the civic center to the stadium. He says that causes a back up in traffic.

In addition, he says one of the lanes of Pensacola is westbound leaving the game. So,there's not an eastbound route there.

He says for the Miami game the city needs an additinal eastbound route and there needs to be some north-south routes.

This way, people funneling out of the game heading east, can head north across Tennessee Street.

"The bottom line is we are the capital city," said Maddox. "We are the home to two major universities and a community college. We need to be good hosts for people who visit the city and we need to take care of our citizens and make sure they have safe travel, so the quicker we can move people from large events the better our city."

Maddox voiced his concerns in a letter to the city manager. We will let you know if any traffic changes are made.

Here's the letter:

Madam Manager,

I know that we have cut the number of officers working after Florida State game days due to budget constraints and concerns of lack of police personnel in other parts of the city. I also am aware that we have changed the routes going to and from the stadium in conjunction with FSU officials. However, it is my belief that the Miami game will present severe delays leaving the stadium. With an 8pm start time fans will not be staying long after the game, and will therefore all be leaving at the same time. Our corridors will be severely backed up and it will result in long traffic delays and possible safety concerns. As the capital city and home of two major universities and a community college, I believe we have a responsibility to be a good host to out of town visitors, and of course we have a responsibility to our citizens. If the commission agrees, I would request that we look at reestablishing a dedicated bus route, opening up additional east bound corridors following the game, and look at establishing dedicated northbound routes to augment our current configuration. While I am aware that this will require additional TPD overtime, I believe it is well worth the expense in order to show we are an efficient and effective city in dealing with large scale events. Our police department does an outstanding job in keeping our citizens safe on game days. It is my hope that additional focus and resources may augment those efforts.

Thank you,

Scott