Country Thunder Arizona is coming soon. So is the traffic. How to minimize the aggravation
Last year, Country Thunder Arizona drew an average of more than 30,000 people a day, including staff and vendors, to Canyon Moon Ranch near Florence. On Saturday, when Morgan Wallen played, the attendance was closer to 34,000.
A lot of those fans spend the weekend in one of the more than 8,000 campsites that sell out long before the festival returns each April, many arriving as early as Wednesday.
The others drive in every day along the stretch of two-lane blacktop that separates the ranch from U.S. 60.
That's just a bottleneck waiting to happen.
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But it doesn't have to end in you cursing the traffic for making you miss the first half-hour of the artist you spent all that money to see. Not if you plan your trip accordingly.
Here's how to make driving to Country Thunder Arizona a little easier.
When should you arrive at Country Thunder Arizona?
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The best way to avoid the worst traffic is to stop procrastinating. Get behind the wheel early and point the car toward Florence.
If you aim to arrive just in time to catch your favorite headliner, that is all but guaranteed to blow up in your face.
As Country Thunder digital media specialist Megan Benoit says, "Obviously, at any large event, there’s going to be a lot of vehicles, so try and plan your trip accordingly."
Getting there early "helps alleviate that bottleneck right before those headliners go on," Benoit says.
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Benoit says she gets that you're more interested in what the headliner is doing. That's how they landed the headlining slot.
"But you're gonna want to come out earlier so you don't miss them," Benoit says. "I always say that it’s better to be at a show earlier discovering artists you’ve never seen than to be stuck in your car. Even if you’re not excited about the 3 o’clock act, it’s a better place to be than in a traffic jam later in the evening."
And who knows? You might even come away from those afternoon sets with a new favorite artist or two.
"Everyone’s excited about the headliners," Benoit says. "But for me, there’s some 3:30 acts and some 5 o'clock acts that I’m really excited about."
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Country Thunder traffic is at its worst around dinnertime
Benoit says Country Thunder tends to see heavier traffic around dinnertime.
"So if you can make it here before 6 or 7 and catch those earlier acts, I think that’s the best way to go," she says. "Any time after 6, 7, it’s gonna be busy. To beat the rush, come earlier. And then you’ve bought yourself a little time so that if there are delays, you’re still there seeing the artists that you’re most excited for."
And that applies to all four days, although Saturdays have historically drawn the biggest crowds.
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Here's some good news about Country Thunder traffic
Benoit says they noticed an improvement in traffic flow last year after widening the roads near the festival site to get more vehicles in.
"I think that helped," she says.
The Country Thunder site crew was in Florence two weeks early getting ready for the big event.
"So they’re going to do whatever they can to make sure that all the roads are in good shape to accommodate all of these crowds," Benoit says.
What ADOT has to say about Country Thunder traffic
For those of you who need to use those roads but aren't going to Country Thunder, the Arizona Department of Transportation advises drivers to expect heavy traffic and delays on highways heading toward Florence, including state routes 79 and 287.
Motorists who aren't attending Country Thunder should plan for plenty of extra travel time or consider alternate routes to avoid the event traffic.
ADOT is also asking drivers to use extra caution where SR 79 crosses the Gila River in Florence because of a work zone for a bridge replacement project.
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Country Thunder traffic tips from Pinal County Sheriff's Office
Sgt. Roderick Harrison of the Pinal County Sheriff's Office asks that drives "please be patient" on that final stretch of road.
They're working closely with the festival to get the gates open and admit vehicles as quickly and smoothly as possible.
"We're gonna load up everybody onto Price Road and we should get about 4.4 miles worth of cars on Price to keep it off of highway 79," he says. "Then the residual traffic and local traffic will be able to pass through on the right."
Harrison says the heaviest traffic should be from 5 a.m. to noon on Wednesday when the campsites open.
"Last year, we had the roads completely free of any traffic by 11 o'clock, which is good," he says.
For motorists with no pressing need to be near Canyon Moon Ranch on Wednesday, Harrison says, "I'd like those folks to see if they could push their commute past noon. That would give them an opportunity to pass right through versus having to hit head-on with the rest of the traffic."
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There will be heavy outbound traffic at the end of each night, but Harrison doesn't anticipate a lot of traffic problems heading into Country Thunder after Wednesday morning.
"We have two lanes coming in and we'll direct them where to park," he says. "We'll get them in very quickly."
The festival ends with what Harrison calls "a mass exodus" Sunday, but it's an exodus that tends to trickle out throughout the day.
"All day, people will be leaving, but it really doesn't cause a large backup because it's sporadic," Harrison says.
"You may get 20 people who just got their campers packed up and all of the sudden, the line backs up for 10 minutes. Then, it goes smooth for the next 20 to 30 minutes. So it's very intermittent."
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Pro tip: 'Keep tabs on your keys'
One additional piece of advice Harrison would like to pass along is to "keep tabs on your keys."
A lot of people lose their keys at Country Thunder.
"We get 50 sets of keys," he says.
"So be cognizant of where your keys are. They lose them and they're scrambling for hours trying to find them in a crowd where everybody's two to three feet apart. We have a lost and found, of course, but sometimes people pick up keys and by the time they drop them off at lost and found, it's two, three hours later."
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Should you be concerned about people will be driving drunk?
You may assume a festival this large would have a problem with inebriated drivers getting on the road, but Harrison says they see fewer than 25 DUIs in the course of the entire festival.
"I've been doing Country Thunder every years going on 19 years," he says. "And really, we don't have that many DUIs out there. We have them, of course. Don't get me wrong. But most of the people doing the heaviest drinking are staying put."
Rest assured, he adds, that those who choose to drink and drive "will be stopped and processed."
Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Country Thunder Arizona 2023: Traffic tips to reduce the hassle
