Nationals Park(ing) Nightmare
The new ballpark for the Washington Nationals is a month away from debuting, and of course we’re anxiously anticipating our trip to D.C. and the next official new frontier for the Ultimate Sports Road Trip.
Our travel dates are June 21 and 22, and we already bought our game tickets for the Saturday night game (a nice deal on eBay). So with those ducats enroute, I thought I’d go online to scope out our parking strategy and other activities to plan our visit to Nationals Park. Now I’m getting a bit concerned.
Parking at the new ballpark is going to be a real bitch, apparently. The two parking ramps connected to the ballpark have but 1200 spaces, and they are reserved for the highest of rollers. The Nats have secured another 4000 spaces nearby from private lots, and are making those available for season ticket holders only.
Now the District is chiming in with their own bans, according to this article in the Washington Post. They will be setting up parking meters all around the ballpark limiting parking to two hours, not enough time for the game patron.
The good Mayor’s advice? “Take the Metro”. Hey fine by us we love riding the subway and local rail lines to sporting events. (Got a dandy story about riding the MARTA in Atlanta from Turner Field to Atlanta/Hartsfield Airport… but I digress.) The nearest station is the Navy Yard Station about two blocks away. But then we read that it’s a rinky dink station. Throngs of fans will most likely overwhelm this facility.
Other ideas being put forth include free parking at the lots at RFK Stadium and shuttle service.
Saturday will be no problem for us as far as riding the Metro. We plan to come early and stay late and behave like drunken fools as we explore the ballpark, check out the nightlife after the game, and have ourselves a good time. As for Sunday? It’s a day game and then we have the 400+ mile drive back to Buffalo. We’d like to do a quick getaway… that doesn’t involve shuttles to RFK, long waits on subway platforms, or other exotic ideas. Just get us to our car and point the GPS towards home.
All this will just certainly add to the adventure. Stay tuned!
twoeightnine Says:February 28th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Honestly, just take the Metro. Even on Sunday. It’s the one thing DC does right and on time. I went to Shamrockfest last year at RFK and there was 30,000 people there with almost no parking. (It was held in the parking lot.) I’d say probably 75% of the people got there via the Metro and it was surprisingly efficient. I think we waited 15 minutes for a train to get out of there.
Mark Says:February 29th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Navy Yard station is being rebuilt to handle the traffic for nationals games. I’m not sure the time table on it but sooner rather than later…as for nightlife around the arena? ehhh lots of seedy clubs got shut down and some demolished for the project but thats it not to mention it is a rather mediocre part of DC to say the least….in 3-5 yrs though? it will be its own downtown.
do some time in chinatown to see how a sports arena can transform an urban district though
ill be in DC then…be sure to get at me