Signs along Dickson Street indicate parked cars will be towed to the Walton Arts Center lot free of charge.
Several streets in and around downtown Fayetteville are set to close this weekend for the 2012 Joe Martin Stage Race.
With over 700 athletes expected to participate, Fayetteville police are asking residents to drive carefully and be cautious of the many cyclists in and around town.
Also, any vehicles parked on Dickson Street from 4-7 p.m. Friday will be moved to the main Walton Arts Center parking lot to make room for the raceway. No towing fees will be incurred.
Detailed 2012 Joe Martin Stage Race street closings are listed below.
Friday, April 27 – 3:30 to 7 p.m.
- West Avenue and Dickson Street
* Vehicles parked on Dickson Street will be moved to the Walton Arts Center lot
Saturday, April 28 – Noon to 7 p.m.
- Razorback Road from 15th Street to I-540
Sunday, April 29 – 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Church Avenue between Spring Street and Mountain Street
- Mountain Street between Church Avenue and Block Avenue
- Block Avenue between Mountain Street and Center Street
- Center Street between Block Avenue and East Avenue
- East Avenue between Center Street and Dickson Street
- Dickson Street between East Avenue and West Avenue
- West Avenue between Dickson Street and Spring Street
- Spring Street between West Avenue and Church Avenue.
For information about the Joe Martin Stage Race and details about the races, visit joemartinstagerace.com.
Get your noise makers and enjoy this international event! We all need more cow bell!
Someone PLEASE use some common sense!!
Just like every flippin’ year….WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN DURING THE COMMUTE HOME??
It’s not like the bikers have real jobs! They can definitely get up a couple hours earlier!
And don’t forget, it’s exactly the time we are trying to get our kids home safe from school!
Not complaining about the event, just the streets that are blocked for residents who live down here! NOBODY EVER CARES ABOUT THE RESIDENTS!
That’s ridiculous. First off, the riders start at pretty much the crack of dawn and finish at this time. Second of all, the only closure that would affect school children is today between 3:30 and 7. Implying that the race in any way affects your ability to get your kids safe home from school is alarmist and silly. This is a wholesome family event that showcases athleticism, healthy living and tenacity. I live right above Dickson and it’s not at all an inconvenience and never has been.
Cry me a river… I’ll never understand why people get so upset when their daily routine is disrupted in the smallest ways. It probably takes about one minute of mildly creative thinking to find an alternative route when there are street closures. Folks who get worked up over occasional inconveniences are literally killing themselves with anxiety and stress. Embrace life! Be thankful we live in a vibrant town with lots of people doing lots of cool things! Don’t fret about taking a detour; enjoy seeing a new neighborhood!
amen. it’s cool that we have a premier cycling event. plus, that is the best looking/friendliest tow zone sign i’ve ever seen.
This person whines about this happening every year so we know this isn’t their first trip to the rodeo. And yet they still haven’t figured out an alternate route to their house. Doesn’t say much for their intelligence.
Could you whine a bit more? You must have an amazing life if you’re biggest issue is the short term inconvenience of an internationally recognized bike race. If you live downtown your kids should be walking home. I live downtown and my solution to the blocked streets is to become a spectator and enjoy the fun.
I want to get towed while sitting in my car like the flyer shows. Hmm. Maybe on Sunday.
Amen. Support for this kind of event is worth my time walking 2 blocks out of my way to pick up the kids. While I’m at it, I can take them to see all the cyclists and support a sport that gets little national coverage and is a much better option than NASCAR.
NASCAR is much cooler than a bike race.
The City should buy traffic warning equipment, electronic signage to warn motorists well in advance that there are closures or delays. I sat on School St. yesterday evening with about a hundred other cars watching mostly straggling lone cyclists peddle north on School. It sure looked to me like cars headed south could have been allowed to move on out in the protracted gaps between cyclists. If I had known the race was happening however, I could easily have taken a back way and avoided that area entirely. Same thing has happened with street construction. Without warning or orange cones, suddenly you’re dead ended at a lane closure in heavy traffic waiting for someone to let you merge.
If the City is going to continue to promote this kind of mobile event that interferes with traffic on it’s main
streets, they ought to dang well buy the equipment it takes to make driving safe and sane.
Okay, now that we’ve solved all the real problems of the world, next on our agenda is the evil bike race: A better driver attitude is all that is needed to make driving safe and sane. I’ve lived downtown for over a decade and have never had a problem with the race – because I plan ahead, and I make concession for a race of this caliber.
Gosh, if only this international bike race had some kind of signage indicating it was coming to town. A girl can only dream!
The people of Springdale have life so much better than those of us in Fayetteville. They are never inconvenienced by marathons, bicycle races, motorcycles roaring, gay pride parades, other festivals that come to their town and use the streets. They have no at-grade trails crossings. They have no sign ordinances. They have no Razorback football games that snarl traffic and bring drunk rednecks out at night. They have no regulations about how many cars you can park in your yard. They have no streamside ordinances that restrict property rights. They allow 20 people in live in a house, related or not. They have no strip of bars and music venues in some crowded entertainment district with loud music. They have no eco-friendly apartment complexes with modern architecture. Real estate is dirt cheap. They have no plans for a parking deck. They have no paid parking after 5:00 pm when the town shuts down. They have two high schools. They have the Jones Center for Families and a Cracker Barrel restaurant. They have Tyson’s and George’s processing plants with good minimum wage jobs. It is a bucolic little village that would seem to be ideal for many of the Flyer comment corps.
It’s true. Our only real source of entertainment is hanging out with our pet chickens and watching all the problems of our neighbors to the South.