Town Manager Roger L. Stancil has announced that the Town of Chapel Hill is
introducing "Homegrown Halloween in Chapel Hill," a 2008 campaign to
return Halloween on Franklin Street to its roots as a small town community
gathering and reduce crowd sizes that have become unmanageable.
With about 80,000 revelers at its peak, the event last year attracted many
more people than the total 54,000 population of Chapel Hill. An enormous number
of people confined in the downtown area presents many public safety concerns
related to personal and property crime, crowd panic and large scale civil
disorders. Additional concerns focus on alcohol poisoning and gang-related
violence.
"We're determined to put safety first, and with such a large crowd that
has become almost impossible," said Town Manager Roger L. Stancil.
"The possibility for serious injury or worse tragedy draws nearer each
year."
Street Closures
·Southbound traffic on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd will be merged
into one lane prior to the intersection of Estes Drive. View map
·Westbound traffic on E. Franklin Street will be merged into one
lane prior to the intersection of Estes Drive. View map
·Westbound lanes on South Road will be detoured onto Ridge Road to
Manning Drive. View map
·Westbound traffic on Manning Drive will be detoured south onto S.
Columbia Street. Northbound traffic on S. Columbia Street will be detoured east
onto Manning Drive. S. Columbia Street will be closed to northbound traffic at
Manning Drive. View map
Beginning at about 9 p.m., some downtown streets will be closed to vehicular
traffic, including:
·Franklin Street, from Raleigh Street to Roberson Street
·Columbia Street, from Rosemary Street to Cameron Avenue
·Raleigh Street, from East Franklin to Cameron Avenue
·Henderson Street, from East Rosemary Street to East Franklin
Street
Residential streets near downtown will be closed except to residents of
those streets and their guests. View
a map of street closures.
Parking
As always, there will be little to NO PARKING available close to downtown,
and there will be no place for charter buses to drop off or pick up passengers.
Vehicles parked on streets to be closed will be towed beginning at 6 p.m.
Vehicles that are illegally parked will be ticketed and towed, with a
minimum recovery cost of $103.
Media vehicles will not be allowed to park inside the closed perimeter.
Prohibited
Items
Downtown restaurants and bars will close their doors at 1 a.m. to new
patrons. They also will charge a minimum $5 cover charge to patrons not
attending a private event. In addition, downtown convenience stores that sell
alcohol will either close their doors or stop selling alcohol at 1 a.m.
Town ordinances and State statutes prohibit the following items in the
closed area:
·Alcoholic Beverages
·Weapons
·Glass Bottles
·Paint
·Fireworks and Explosives
·Flammable Substances
·Animals
·Coolers
Items, even as part of a costume, which can be used as weapons or could
reasonably be mistaken as weapons will be confiscated. This includes items made
of wood, metal, cardboard or hard plastic.
Transit
No
Bus Shuttles: This
year there will be no bus shuttles operating from park and ride lots.
Safe
Ride Buses: Safe
Ride buses will operate from 11 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Safe Ride is a service funded
by the University for the safety of students. Safe Ride buses will attempt to
operate the normal printed schedule along the detoured routes. Safe Rides will
not serve Downtown/Franklin Street area. Please be advised that due to road
closures and traffic pattern changes, Chapel Hill Transit may be unable to
operate its exact usual schedules.
Safe TMap
and Schedule
(pick up and drop off from Chapel Hill Town Hall)
Safe
JV Map
and Schedule
(pick up and drop off from Columbia Street at Sitterson Hall across from
Carolina Inn)
Safe GMap
and Schedule
(pick up and drop off from Columbia Street at Sitterson Hall across from
Carolina Inn)
Changes to Bus Routes: Chapel Hill Transit riders should
be aware that some regular bus routes will be changed, including the following:
·D Route will end at 9:10 p.m. at the
Mary Ellen Jones Building
·J Route will end at 8:56 p.m. at the
Rock Creek Apartments
·NS Route will end at 8:37 p.m. at
Eubanks Park and Ride
·NU Route will end at 8:56 p.m. at
Carolina Coffee Shop
Riders
who would like to travel on these routes after this ending time, must schedule
a Shared Ride trip in advance. All calls must be received by 5 p.m. Oct. 31, in
order to use this service.
Riders
may begin scheduling rides on Friday, Oct. 24. Shared Ride services will be
available during normal route hours.
To
schedule a ride, please call Chapel Hill Transit Reservations at (919) 969-5544
from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Monday-Saturday) and 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (Sunday).
Halloween on Franklin Street has been covered extensively in local news
media. View news reports.
Graphics
The following graphics may be used to illustrate articles about Halloween in
Chapel Hill. Each is available as a high-resolution image, which should be
editable for use on Web sites, in video, or in newsprint. Click on the photo to
view and download the larger image.
To Download: PC users: Right click and choose "save" from the
pop-up menu to download a copy of the picture.Mac users: Click
and hold, then choose "save" from the pop-up menu to download a copy
of the picture or drag the photo to your desktop or selected folder.
The Town of Chapel Hill will make every effort to keep people who are attending
the event from parking in your neighborhood. Access to your neighborhood will
be limited by barricades and police personnel at the roads leading into your
neighborhood. This will begin early in the evening.
·Residents of the neighborhood will be able to drive in and out of
the enclosed area. Tell the officer at the barricade where you live.
·Your guests will also be able to enter and leave. They will need
to tell the officer at the barricade exactly where they are going.
·Illegally parked vehicles (even of residents, guests) will be
ticketed and towed.
·Traffic will be congested and getting past the barricades may be
a slow process. We recommend that you plan accordingly.
Contact
Information: Police Officer Phil Smith at (919)
968-2760 ext. 134 or
or Public Information Officer Catherine Lazorko at (919) 968-2743.
