RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The UCI Bike race is 35 days away and while excitement is building in the city, residents who live and park along the race course are concerned about where will they park when the roads are shut down.
“Parking is probably going to be a problem,” said Amy Goodwin, who is a resident in the Fan District.
“It’s going to be impossible to find parking,” said Keri Smallie, who is also a resident in the Fan.
Hundreds of cars rely on street parking along Monument Avenue. But, with large sections of Monument and Franklin streets set to be closed to parking for days. Where will they all go? 8News asked raced organizers.
“By the numbers, parking that is not going to be available on Monument and parking that is available on Broad Street, there is kind of a balance there,” said Lee Kallman with UCI Richmond 2015.
That means if you live here, your car may have to be parked several blocks away on Broad Street or another side street. Residents say shutting down Monument Avenue will have a ripple effect.
“We live on Grace Street and all the parking bleeds over when you have big events like the Redskins and then you have the bike race there is not going to be any parking for people who have to park on the street,” said Smallie.
Officials say they are working with police to ease other parking restrictions where they can, they also say if you pay for a private parking spot you will still have that spot.
“Roads are going to be closed, parking is going to be lost in some cases, but this is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity for our region,” said Kallman.
An opportunity, many residents say they are looking forward to.
“I think this is a good thing, I think it will be exciting to have the bike race,” said Goodwin.
Organizers say they are posting the most up to date parking and other travel information on their website, http://richmond2015.com/
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