University of North Carolina Athletics
Emergency Road Repairs To Change Smith Center Traffic Flow
November 3, 2016 | Men's Basketball
CHAPEL HILL – Fans attending University of North Carolina men's basketball games at the Dean E. Smith Center are advised that emergency road repairs to Skipper Bowles Drive will result in some alternate traffic patterns for Tar Heel Express buses and fans who have permits to park in lots adjacent to the basketball arena.
Designated parking lots and spaces should be minimally impacted, but a portion of Bowles Drive located between the entrances to the Bowles Parking Lot will be temporarily closed.
Vehicles will continue to enter and exit the Bowles Lot from two locations on Bowles Drive. Additionally, for the first time, vehicles that are parked in the School of Business Parking Deck (located at the back of the Bowles Lot) will be re-routed to Mason Farm Road, NC 15-501 and Highway 54 through the access road that runs behind Kenan-Flagler Business School and the Kenan-McColl Lot.
“We are advising fans to take a little extra time, especially the first few games, to get to the arena, but we are excited about the addition of the new post-game exit behind the Business School,” says Clint Gwaltney, a senior associate director of athletics at UNC. “That should alleviate some of the traffic issues when leaving from the Bowles Lot. The Tar Heel Express buses and ADA accessibility shuttles will continue to stage as they typically do in front of the arena, but we will be bringing them in by way of Williamson Drive instead of coming down Bowles Drive.”
Williamson Drive will become a two-way street for games. Williamson Lot permit holders may enter at a new temporary entrance by Hinton James Dormitory and will be able to exit via Williamson Drive as they have done in past years.
Emergency repairs began last week and are expected to last until early January to fix a steam tunnel that runs beneath Bowles Drive.
For questions regarding transportation and parking, contact UNC Transportation and Parking at (919) 962-3951 or the Rams Club at (919) 843-2000.
