This weekend, the Tortuga Music Festival and its 20,000 sunburned attendees will invade Fort Lauderdale Beach. They'll bring alcohol, cowboy hats, coolers, and -- unfortunately -- traffic.
Tons and tons of traffic.
See also: Make Your Own Free Custom Tic Tac Packs at Tortuga Music Festival
The festival itself will be held at Fort Lauderdale Beach Park, 1100 Seabreeze Blvd., on Saturday, April 12, and Sunday, April 13. It will run from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on both days. That's a total of 22 hours of country tunes and apocalyptic merging.
If you've driven along A1A on a normal Saturday, you've probably experienced the steering-wheel-punching frustration that is Fort Lauderdale Beach's traffic. So it's safe to say that during Tortuga, the roads are basically going to look like the set of The Walking Dead. Festival organizers have done their best to alleviate the problems by arranging for parking at satellite locations and shuttles to the concert, but still... you've been warned.
The only partial road closure for Tortuga will be at SE Fifth Street, between the Aquatic Complex and SR A1A, though roads everywhere around the area will most likely be in total gridlock.
Last year, public parking lots on the beach were all full of event staff and vendors.
If you are attending Tortuga, your best bet is to plan ahead. Leave early and go green. Dust off those bikes, rollerblades, and donkeys, and do all you can to avoid the roads near Fort Lauderdale Beach.
The festival is using the Galleria Mall parking area as Tortuga parking. Concertgoers will be able to take shuttles from the mall to the concert, though fees will apply.
Other parking options for the festival include:
- City Park Garage, 155 SE 2nd Street
- Sun-Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Boulevard
- Bank of America, 212 SE 2nd Avenue
- One River Plaza, 305 South Andrews Avenue
- 200 Brickell Centre, 200 Brickell Avenue
- Las Olas Centre, 350 E. Las Olas Boulevard
- Las Olas Centre, 450 E. Las Olas Boulevard
- Broward County Garage, 151 SW 2nd Street
- County Lot II, 6 SW 1st Street
The city is banking on public transportation being a saving grace. The Sun Trolley is extending its hours on Saturday and Sunday until 11:30 p.m. to accommodate the Tortugans.
Download the Trolley Tracker here to track their routes in real-time.
But let's be real, if you want to get a spot at one of these lots, you probably have to leave, like, now.
If you just wanted to so swim and sunbathe at the beach, we hear Pompano is nice this time of year!
You can read more info from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department below, and follow the agency on Twitter for Tortuga traffic updates at @FLPD411.
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