Sunday 5 p.m. update: Available parking widespread in downtown
Traffic lighter than Saturday. Headliner Bon Jovi scheduled to take stage at 8:45 p.m.
Traffic today was the lightest of the three days the Sun surveyed city thoroughfares at 5 p.m. since the start of the Bamboozle music festival on Friday.
The estimates of a smaller Sunday crowd versus Saturday’s 40,000 seem to be confirmed by the quieter streets and more availability of parking at 5 p.m. Festival promoter LiveNation expects 30,000 today.
Unlike Saturday at 5 p.m., today there were no backups on Asbury Avenue entering the city from the Asbury circle. In a repeat of the past two nights, light traffic was flowing easily on Main Street and Grand Avenue. Other key entryways to the city — the Norwood Avenue and Main Street bridges over Deal Lake in the north, and Main Street coming in from Ocean Grove in the south — were clear of any traffic at 5 p.m.
Streets east of Grand Avenue were closed to traffic but police had no trouble handling the few residents in cars who had to get past the barricades.
Available parking in the downtown business district at 5 p.m. was much more widespread in comparison to Saturday at the same time, especially on the streets off Cookman. Private parking lots also were still seeking customers for spaces.
Brickwall tavern on Cookman appeared to be doing a brisk business at 5 p.m., although there were still a number of tables available and no wait. Ivan and Andy’s steakhouse a couple doors down from Brickwall also had business, although a good number of tables were available.
Based on the traffic patterns the past couple nights, there likely should be no major problems traversing the city traveling north or south at dinnertime.
However, there could be some backups on Asbury Avenue from those entering the city specifically to see Bon Jovi at 8:45 p.m. Last night’s headliner, the Foo Fighters went on earlier at 6:45 p.m.
Public officials are urging festival-goers not to drive into Asbury Park to attend Bamboozle this weekend, and have told drivers to expect delays at any time. Bamboozle attendees so far have heeded that call, as there have been no traffic problems in the city observed by the Sun during festival hours — except for some delays at times on Asbury Avenue for those entering the city to attend Bamboozle.
Bon Jovi is scheduled to conclude Bamboozle at 11:00 p.m.
