Ky. governor: Parking was problem, not I-71

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10:33 PM Tuesday, July 12, 2011

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Steve Beshear is offering an assessment of the massive traffic jam that marred Kentucky’s long-awaited entry into NASCAR’s top series.

The governor said Tuesday that parking problems were a big contributor to the traffic backups last Saturday night that prevented some fans from reaching Kentucky Speedway in time for the Sprint Cup race. Beshear said additional lanes on Interstate 71 near the track would have probably caused longer logjams.

Beshear is forming a team of state officials to meet with track leaders soon to look for ways to avoid the bottlenecks next year.

Beshear’s Republican opponent in the governor’s race, David Williams, has called for legislative hearings. Beshear said a legislative review is fine, but said his efforts are aimed at helping track officials resolve the problems.

Speedway officials acknowledged there was not enough parking to accommodate the 107,000 ticketholders, and countless others, who flocked to Sparta for the chance to experience Kentucky’s first Sprint Cup race.

“The bottleneck really occurred at the track,” said Trooper Michael Webb, public information officer for Kentucky State Police Post 5 in Campbellsburg. “The fact is, if the interstate was 20 lanes wide, it would not have mattered, because it’s all got to end somewhere.”

I-71 widens from two to three lanes each way near the speedway, which can accommodate 33,000 vehicles. Officials assumed each vehicle would carry several people. Speedway officials have also estimated some non-ticket-holding fans came to the track to experience the inaugural race.

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