Kentucky Speedway Officials Promise Dramatic Traffic Improvements

Kentucky Speedway officials today "promised dramatic improvement" in regards to parking capacity and traffic flow at the track ahead of the June 30 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quaker State 400. Officials said that the track has acquired or improved a total of 326 acres of parking "at or near the track and that they will be able to park from 12,000 to 18,000 more cars at this year's race" (SPEEDTV.com, 1/25).

Track owner SMI is spending $7M "to transform 160 acres of land directly across from the track into new parking spaces," doubling the capacity to nearly 35,000 vehicles. An additional $3.7M is being spent to "improve the roads around the track" (KYPOST.com, 1/25). State police will play "a much more active role than they did last year," and SMI Chair & CEO Bruton Smith promised that "there will be 300 parkers on site to assist traffic flow, as opposed to 84 last year" (SCNOW.com, 1/25).