Music Midtown's coming, so are road closures

With Music Midtown 2012 less than a week away, you might want to start planning new routes through the city. Some local roads are already being closed for next weekend’s music, with more to come.

Music Midtown is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 21 from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 22 from noon to 11 p.m. in the Piedmont Park Meadow. Music will begin at 4:30 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday.

There are also sound checks scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 22 from approximately 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.

A total of 15 artists are scheduled to perform, including the Foo Fighters, Van Hunt, TI, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts and The Avett Brothers on Friday, and Pearl Jam, Ludacris, Girl Talk, Garbage, Adam Ant, Neon Trees, Florence + The Machine, Civil Twilight, LP and O’Brother on Saturday.

To purchase tickets, visit www.musicmidtown.com, www.livenation.com or charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000

According to event organizers, the security plan on the days of the festival calls for up to 85 officers, and some of their duties will include neighborhood patrol. Clean up will be extended to a five block radius around the festival site.

A few streets were closed over the weekend for loading festival equipment, but they were scheduled to reopen.

There will be limited street and lane closures as follows:

• Beginning Sunday, Sept. 16 at 10 p.m. (or after all scheduled infrastructure loads in), three east-bound lanes of 10th St. between Charles Allen Dr. and Monroe Dr. (the ones closest to Grady High School) will be used for two-way traffic while the two west-bound lanes (the ones closest to Piedmont Park) will be closed until Friday, Sept. 21 at 9:30 a.m. At that time on Sept. 21, 10th Street between Piedmont Ave and Monroe Dr. will be closed until Monday, Sept. 24 at 4 a.m. 
  • There will be access during school hours for The Children’s School and Grady High.
  • There will be access to the Post Parkside parking lot and the adjacent retail parking lot. 
  • There will be access for Midtown residents and businesses displaying proper identification.
  • APD will provide intermittent traffic control for ADA, emergency vehicle and MARTA access
• On Friday, Sept. 21 from 6 a.m. until Monday, September 24 at 4 a.m., the east & west bound curb lanes (parking lanes) of Charles Allen Dr. from 8th St. to 10th St. will be closed.
  • There will be shared access during school hours for Grady High School.
  • There will be shared access for Midtown residents displaying proper identification.
• On Wednesday, Sept. 19 from 6 a.m. through Friday, Sept. 21 at 9:30 a.m., one lane of 10th St. from Charles Allen Dr. to Piedmont Ave. (on the side closest to Piedmont Park) will be closed. 
  • This is an intermittent closure, to be used for the staging of trucks during load-in. It is not anticipated that this closure is in effect the entire time, but due to the mutable nature of the load-in process (inclement weather, transportation delays, etc.), it is necessary that we request this length of time for the street closure permit issued by the City of Atlanta. 
  • There will be access to the Post Parkside Parking Lot and retail parking lot at all times. 
• On Sunday, Sept. 23, 10th St. between Charles Allen Dr. and Monroe Dr. will be closed for load-out of the festival infrastructure (stage, tents, etc) until 4 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 24.
  • APD will be onsite to allow intermittent traffic flow for all vehicles during this period. While event organizers do not anticipate the street being closed for the entire time, due to the mutable nature of the load-out process (inclement weather, transportation delays, etc) it is necessary to request this length of time for the street closure permit issued by the City of Atlanta. Traffic will be allowed to move freely as long as there is not pedestrian traffic and/or production vehicles and/or equipment actively loading out.

Please visit www.musicmidtown.com for a map that details these closures. Electronic message boards will be placed on Monroe Drive, 10th and 14th streets the week leading up to the festival to draw attention to closures. 

All participants will be encouraged to take MARTA. For those who choose to drive, information on nearby parking garages will be posted on our website. The message boards will also direct patrons to parking garages on festival day(s) in an effort to eliminate non-resident traffic on the surrounding streets. 

- Music Midtown and the City of Atlanta contributed to this story