For car lovers, Car Week is automobile heaven. For some residents, it’s traffic hell.
“Let’s take a deep breath and be kind to each other and kind to the people that will be here,” Carmel Mayor Steve Dallas said during the City Council meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 8.
The very first event of what is really 10 days, is 5pm-7pm, this Friday, Aug. 11, on Alvarado Street in downtown Monterey with the free display of cars from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
It concludes on Sunday, Aug. 20, with the grandaddy event of Car Week, the final day of the 67th Annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
In between there are more than 40 events up and down the Peninsula and out in Carmel Valley, bringing thousands of visitors—and their cars—to roads with limited capacity to begin with.
It’s an event known around the world that attracts more than 85,000 visitors to Monterey County and sells out 36,200 room nights, according to a 2014 survey by the Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Attendees stay an average of 4.4 nights and spend $53.5 million locally, generating $4.8 million in taxes, according to the bureau.
Earlier on Tuesday, the MCCVB convened a roundtable to local officials and Car Week event organizers to introduce a bevy of resources for locals and visitors alike to navigate the traffic.
Resources include:
- A list of road closures
- Car Week shuttles
- A complete list of events with tips on how to get to each of them
- An interactive map of events
In addition, the City of Monterey's website will feature daily updates about Car Week events, traffic and road closures on its home page.
The city has also been distributing flyers around town alerting locals to road closures.
There was a bit of good news about reducing the load on local roads.
The Porsche Club of America Werks Reunion, in the past held at the now closed Rancho Cañada Golf Course, is moving to Corral de Tierra Country Club. That takes cars away from the bottleneck of Highway 1 South and Carmel Valley Road on Friday, Aug. 18.
The Quail Lodge and Golf Club in Carmel Valley, home to the Bonhams Quail Lodge Auction that kicks off Thursday, Aug. 18, hired a company to shuttle in staff, vendors and up to 2,000 attendees from two local church parking lots.
Monterey City Traffic Engineer Rich Deal said at the roundtable that there will be no major construction happening on major thoroughfares during the 10 days. Some minor construction in residential areas will continue, but should not affect traffic.
He also pointed out the new Holman Highway roundabout at Highway 1 will be fully open. Not all the signs will be up, but there will be temporary signs to give drivers guidance.
And just in time, the Transportation Agency for Monterey County released a cute video featuring kids from Monterey demonstrating how to use roundabouts.
More videos on how cars and larger vehicles can navigate roundabouts successfully are also available on the TAMC website.
(2) comments
Yes, these events create a lot of money for the area businesses. But residents here pay a lot of money to be able to live here. They really need to come up with ways to reduce traffic that affects everyday infrastructure, before issuing these event permits. It's very unfair to the local residents that this event has gotten so big that you have to essentially plan groceries, errands, appointments, etc around an entire week.
I moved to Monterey to get away from the traffic. Seems like more and more events are being permitted without considering the negative impact it has on taxpayers.
Don't get me wrong, I like having events to do here. But at a certain point, the city needs to realize that the infrastructure can't accommodate the amount of events they are allowing. Car week used to be fun...can't say I feel that way anymore.
If your stamina and schedule allow, reduce traffic congestion by biking, or by using a bike-and-ride option (e.g., putting your bicycle on a Monterey-Salinas Transit bus, a hotel shuttle, or a personal vehicle). Bike-and-ride tips, and tips in Spanish and English for drivers of large trucks and buses, and for people biking around them, are among the riding skills, safety tips, and other resources on www.bikemonterey.org.
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