What to Know About Parking, Traffic During Arts Fest

The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts returns Wednesday, July 10, through Sunday, July 14, marking the busiest days of the summer in downtown State College and Penn State's University Park campus.

The 58th year of the festival kicked off with Children and Youth Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Festivities continue on Thursday with the start of the Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition (10 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday) along with a wide variety of food, free entertainment and activities.

Booths and stages lining the streets and approximately 125,000 attendees mean a number of parking, traffic and transit changes. Here's a look at what you need to know.

WHERE TO PARK

In downtown State College, visitors are encouraged to use the Beaver Avenue (200 W. Beaver Ave.), Fraser Street (135 S. Fraser St.) and Pugh Street (126 S. Pugh St.) parking garages , which are open 24 hours. Event rates of $2.25 per hour, or a $32 per day maximum, are in effect through 6 p.m. on Sunday.

The McAllister Parking Deck (132 McAllister Street), 100 W. Beaver Ave. surface lot and street meters offer limited additional options.

Borough parking staff will not enforce “No Parking 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.” and one- and two-hour restrictions until 6 a.m. on Sunday. Some street parking that is normally available has been designated for Arts Festival exhibitor parking, with temporary signs posted.

On campus, festival visitor parking will be available at the HUB, Nittany and West decks. Rates through Sunday are:

• Less than two hours: $1 per hour
• Two to 10 hours: $10
• More than 10 hours: $1 per hour.

The Arts Festival encourages visitors to use the West Deck on White Course Drive, which is the largest parking garage in State College and which will have free shuttle service.

Penn State Transportation Services will offer free blue bus shuttle service from the West Deck, festival area at the College and Allen bus stop and the new Palmer Art Museum at The Arboretum from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

For those who prefer to perambulate, it's about a 10-minute walk from the West Deck to the festival zone. From the Nittany Deck near the Nittany Lion Inn on Fischer Road, it's a five-minute walk to the campus portion of the Sidewalk Sale. No bus service is available from the Nittany Deck.

ROAD CLOSURES

Streets along the festival route are closed to vehicle traffic.

In downtown State College they include:

• 100 to 400 blocks of South Allen Street
• 100 block of West Fairmount Avenue
• 300 to 400 block of South Fraser Street

On campus:

• North Burrowes Road from West College Avenue to Curtin Road
• Pollock Road from North Burrowes Road to Old Main

TRANSIT CHANGES

All CATA Bus stops on North Burrowes Road are closed through Sunday.

The Campus Shuttle via College Avenue stops at the Reber Building, Hosler Building and West Halls will be closed Thursday, July 11, and Friday, July 12.

The Campus Shuttle via Beaver Avenue stops at Rec Hall, West Halls, Westgate Building, Hosler Building and the Reber Building also will be closed Thursday, July 11, and Friday, July 12.

The closest available Campus Shuttle via College Avenue stops will be the College Avenue/Allen Street and Pattee Library stops.

ROAD WORK

On the west side of State College, long-term traffic controls are in place on Atherton Street between Calder Way and White Course Drive for work on PennDOT's ongoing Atherton Street project, which is expected to wrap up this fall.

On the east side, preservation work is underway on the University Drive bridge above East College Avenue. PennDOT wrote in a news release that the bridge would be closed to vehicles for about a month beginning Monday, however, one lane for traffic traveling away from campus has remained open. Traffic headed toward campus is being detoured onto East College Avenue and Porter Road.

Work on the Calder Way project in downtown State College has demobilized until Monday, July 15, to clear the way for the festival.

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