FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
City of Springfield staff at the Transportation Management Center of the Ozarks are prepared for Black Friday traffic on Nov. 25 with staff on hand to monitor and respond to traffic incidents and adjust signal timings where necessary to help maintain traffic flow in Springfield’s busiest shopping areas.
“We have seen holiday shopping traffic decrease gradually over the past decade,” says Signal Operations Engineer Jason Saliba. “Due to the pandemic, traffic in 2020 decreased more profoundly than in prior years and, while numbers rose back up in 2021, they still remained below pre-pandemic levels. If the first 10 months of 2022 are an accurate indicator, we expect overall holiday traffic volumes on Black Friday to be very similar to 2021.”
The highest traffic areas of town are expected to align with Springfield’s largest retail corridors, including the South Glenstone area between Independence and Sunset streets, Campbell Avenue between El Camino Alto Street and Battlefield Road, and Battlefield Road between Campbell and Glenstone avenues.
While monitoring the entire City for traffic flow issues, the Transportation Management Center will be keeping a particular eye on the following areas that motorists should be aware of:
- Traffic destined for the Primrose Marketplace tend to back up onto Glenstone Avenue from the entrance of the shopping center near Best Buy.
- Traffic on El Camino Alto Street at Campbell Avenue is typically stopped throughout the day on Black Friday, often impacting traffic on Campbell. During peak shopping times these backups can also impact traffic on James River Freeway near Campbell Avenue.
- Shopping centers on Sunshine Street west of West Bypass are attracting more shoppers each year and may experience periods of congestion.
The Transportation Management Center offers the following tips to help motorists avoid traffic issues during their 2022 shopping ventures:
- Don’t follow too closely. Traffic backups from major shopping areas may extend further back than expected. Drivers should leave themselves plenty of extra space in case they have to stop unexpectedly.
- Be wary of turning in and out of driveways near stopped traffic on multi-lane roadways. Often times, only one lane is stopped, inhibiting sight distance of oncoming vehicles in the other lane. For the same reasons, slow down significantly when trying to bypass stopped traffic so as to avoid being hit by any potential vehicles turning in front of you.
- For all the typical reasons in addition to possible extended queues, put your phone down while driving! The risks of a rear-end collision are even higher in holiday traffic.
- Avoid the busiest time of Black Friday – roughly between noon and 2:30 p.m. The rise in traffic volumes near shopping areas usually starts becoming problematic around 11 a.m. and returns to more normal conditions by 4 p.m.
- Plan ahead for the most efficient travel routing.
- Check OzarksTraffic.com and tune into local traffic reporting for current conditions.
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For media requests: Transportation Management staff are available for media interviews Nov. 17-18, 21-22. Contact Communication Coordinator Kristen Milam at 573-819-3713 or [email protected].