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American Express to remedy traffic plans for PGA West Luke Bryan concert after the Stevie Nicks traffic fiasco

Gridlocked traffic held up attendees of the Stevie Nicks concert at PGA West on January 17, in La Quinta, for more than three hours. The officials are taking care not to have a repeat of the log jam with Bryan's concert.
PUBLISHED JAN 19, 2020
Luke Bryan (Getty Images)
Luke Bryan (Getty Images)

The city of La Quinta and representatives of The American Express Golf Tournament have pledged that they would revamp their traffic regulation protocol for the sold-out Luke Bryan concert on Saturday, January 18, at PGA West after gridlocked traffic jams soured the aftermath of the Stevie Nicks concert on January 17.

Hundreds of once-happy concert-goers were unfortunately stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic for over three hours on Friday night as they tried to head home following the Fleetwood Mac singer's star turn at the nearly 90-minute concert. At least 15,000 - 20,000 people were said to have been in attendance.

Inductee Stevie Nicks speaks onstage at the 2019 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony - Show at Barclays Center on March 29, 2019 in New York City. (Getty Images)

Many people took to social media to complain about the shoddy implementation and planning of traffic control for the venue which only had one entrance and exit point - and there was reportedly no police or staff present to help direct the flow of traffic either.

"I could hear drivers yelling at each other. And pedestrians, who were a long way away from the designated rideshare lot near the entrance, were walking through the log jam of vehicles in search of their Lyft or Uber drivers," reported one concert-goer. Other fans also voiced their disapproval, saying "We left the concert 6 songs in to avoid traffic and sat in the parking lot for 2 hours for a 10-minute drive home — Stagecoach was easier!"

Luke Bryan attends the 2019 CMT Music Awards - Backstage & Audience at Bridgestone Arena on June 05, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Getty Images)

Officials for the 61st annual Golf Tournament revealed that Saturday night's Luke Bryan concert has already been sold out with 22,000 expected to show up. Jeff Sanders, the executive director of The American Express Golf Tournament said he believes any traffic concerns have been rectified after a three-hour meeting on Saturday morning.

"We are going to make a number of adjustments in the plan. The city of La Quinta and the police force — there will be many more. There will be more attendance at the pinch point there at Avenue 54 and Jefferson so that we make sure that we keep things going," Sanders said. He also went on to explain that Friday night's traffic snarls at PGA West occurred after "a number of people went into the residences and parked their cars at their friends' houses. And then when the concert was over they all came back onto Jefferson at the same time."

La Quinta city officials asked those who attend the Luke Bryan concert to be patient in a post made Saturday afternoon on their social media. "There will be delays and we will do everything we can to make them as short as possible," read the post on Facebook. "We want a fun and safe event and everyone to get home safely."

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