FESTIVALL EVENTS TO AFFECT DOWNTOWN TRAFFIC THIS WEEKEND

While FestivALL Charleston will attract thousands of people to downtown Charleston over the next few days, drivers will face some traffic changes downtown, starting Friday, June 23.

The annual FestivALL Street Art Fair, the Children’s Art Fair and Kanawha County Public Library Street Fair will affect traffic and parking downtown starting tomorrow morning (Friday).  City crews will bag meters on affected blocks two hours before those blocks will be closed to traffic, and cars parked illegally stand to be ticketed and towed.  Capitol Street will be closed and towing will be enforced at these times on Friday:

·       Between Lee and Washington streets – 10 a.m.

·       Between Virginia and Quarrier streets – 2 p.m.

·       Between Quarrier and Lee streets – 4 p.m.

While the streets crossing Capitol Street will remain open throughout the street fair events Saturday and Sunday, drivers are urged to be cautious because of the many pedestrians who will be attending events on Capitol and Hale Streets during FestivALL.  Those sections of Capitol Street will be closed until Sunday evening after the Art Fair concludes and the street has been cleared and cleaned.

Kanawha Boulevard will close between Capitol and Court Streets at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow (Friday) night as usual in preparation for the Moses Auto Group Live on the Levee concert that evening.  That stretch of road will be reopened following the cleanup after the concert late tomorrow night.

As a result of the Boulevard closure for the Moses Auto Group Live on the Levee and the closure of Capitol Street blocks tomorrow, westbound drivers on Kanawha Boulevard tomorrow evening will want to avoid the area by turning right on Brooks Street and west on either Quarrier or Washington streets.

This year’s downtown festivities will also connect to Hale Street with a new “Go to Hale” event Saturday.  As a result, the Lee Way (beside the Lee Street Triangle) and Hale Street between Lee and Virginia Streets will be closed starting at 7 a.m. Saturday.  Quarrier Street will remain open in between the affected blocks, and Hale Street will reopen later Saturday night once the street party ends and the block is cleared and cleaned.

People who attend the Street Art Fair or Go to Hale event should remember that metered parking is enforced on Saturday between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.