Football fans and University of Kentucky officials are reporting a successful debut for the newly renovated Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday, but the event did highlight a handful of traffic and parking concerns still yet to be ironed out.
Thousands of Kentucky football fans descended on the upgraded stadium this weekend for what turned out to be a win for the Wildcats, but UK officials are paying attention to other scorecards too.
"We have some transportation, some parking matters that we're going to work on this week to improve for the Florida game," says UK Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration Eric Monday.
Monday points specifically to the intersection of University Drive and Alumni Drive, which wound up handling large crowds of pedestrians.
"And so we're going to look to improve that crosswalk there, to improve the ability to get our fans across University Drive as we enter the new Commonwealth Stadium," he explains. "And then we'll look at the coverage we'll have in the traffic cameras and other camera footage to understand if there are any other pinch points."
Overall, however, Monday says fans were able to navigate the twin roundabouts on Alumni and find their way to new parking areas. Test #2 for the stadium will come a week from Saturday when the Cats take on the Florida Gators.
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