TAMPA — Those naughty Gasparilla pirates and partiers.
In 2001, they turned Tampa's Super Bowl weekend into a traffic nightmare, clogging the streets so badly on Saturday that people trying to get to NFL events were stuck in their hotels.
"I was on the phone with some of the bus drivers and they were having a hard time getting downtown to get some of their clients," said Mike Witte, vice president of operations for Game Day Management Group, which coordinates Super Bowl transportation plans. "You just couldn't move."
Witte expects no such problems this year, with Gasparilla not scheduled until the next weekend.
"The mere fact that we're not going to have to contend with that is going to be huge," Witte said.
That's not to imply that the Super Bowl, which is expected to bring tens of thousands of visitors to the Tampa Bay area, won't cause traffic snarls.
"Downtown is going to be bustling. Channelside is going to be hopping," Witte said.
In the days before the Feb. 1 kick-off, buses will cart thousands of reporters from the Tampa Convention Center to press events at the stadium, football players to practice sites, and team families to area attractions.
And big events will converge downtown.
On Friday night, there's a hockey game at the St. Pete Times Forum, the NFL Commissioner's party at the Tampa Convention Center and a bash hosted by Jenny McCarthy, Carmen Electra and Kim Kardashian on Harbour Island.
Saturday night, there's a Dane Cook comedy performance at the Forum, a show at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center and a party hosted by ESPN in the Channel District.
Typically, traffic signals downtown get special programming during big events.
But on Super Bowl weekend, city transportation personnel will keep an eye on the streets via video and adjust lights as needed to keep traffic flowing.
And well before that weekend, city employees will kick into overdrive, setting up electronic message boards to direct drivers to destinations, and barricades and traffic cones to control flow.
"We're stretched. We're stretched real thin," said traffic engineer Mike Scanlon. "We've got the Children's Parade the week before and Gasparilla the week after. Nobody in this office will be taking a vacation, including myself, because we need everybody here."
Super Bowl road closures begin Wednesday, when Tampa Bay Boulevard shuts down between N Dale Mabry Highway and Himes Avenue so construction can begin on the NFL Experience, a football theme park.
Then, late Jan. 31, Dale Mabry and Himes will be closed between Columbus Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr., Boulevard until early Feb. 2.
Detours will send drivers from Dale Mabry to the Veterans Expressway, and from Himes Avenue to Armenia Avenue.
Road closures also are scheduled for around downtown's Waterside Marriott Hotel, headquarters for the NFL, and on Eighth Avenue in Ybor City, where the Best Damn Sports Show Period will broadcast live for several days during Super Bowl week.
On game day, about 700 buses will head to Raymond James Stadium, including a 125-bus caravan with a Florida Highway Patrol escort, that starts in Orlando, where some NFL corporate sponsors are staying.
Stadium workers and game ticket holders will get personalized directions from their point of origin directly to their parking spots — a technology Gameday calls Click and Park.
Directions are determined by working with city traffic engineers and based on how many cars specific roads can handle.
Construction projects on the interstates may halt in the days leading up to the Super Bowl, and the day after, when out-of-town visitors will need to make flights at Tampa International Airport.
"We're trying to keep all lanes open," said John McShaffrey, spokesman for the Florida Department of Transportation.
For locals, Witte offers this advice during Super Bowl week: "Have some patience. Book in a little bit more time to get where you're going."
Janet Zink can be reached at jzink@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3401.
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