Opening Night at New Stadium Features Walks, Errors

For many Southern Maryland Blue Crabs fans, an otherwise celebratory Opening Night last Friday was marred by traffic jams and a significant parking shortage that left some people to walk more than a mile to the new ballpark.

Regency Furniture Stadium's paved parking lot and an adjacent field were filled long before the first pitch, which meant fans who arrived closer to game time had to park on the street. When both sides of Piney Church Road filled, stretching both directions from the stadium, sheriff's officers instructed drivers to park on Billingsley Road and Route 488, where they lined up for more than a mile.

"It was horrible to get here," said Jane Thomas, who parked on Route 488 and estimated it took her 45 minutes to reach the stadium from her La Plata home. "They're going to have to figure out what to do about that traffic, because I want to come to games, but I won't do it if it's always this bad."

In all, 7,180 fans, including 1,100 Charles County Youth League players who participated in an on-field ceremony before the game, flocked to the stadium, completed a few days earlier. Blue Crabs General Manager Mark Viniard said the parking lot was not fully paved by game time but will be by the team's next homestand, which begins May 16.

A spokesman for the Charles County Sheriff's Office said all fans attending the three home games since opening night have been able to park in the stadium's lot.

Blue Crabs officials acknowledged that parking was a problem Friday night and promised to improve conditions. Team spokesman Andy Frankel said the 4:30 p.m. start time for the day's pregame festivities meant that most people were coming alone from work rather than traveling in one car with multiple family members or friends. Because no other weekday games will start earlier than 7 p.m. this season, he said, team officials do not expect as many cars at future games.

"If people were coming from their jobs, husbands and wives may have been coming from different directions," Frankel said. "We expect crowds that big again, but we expect people to be coming with two or three or four in the car."

Viniard said that team staff members have met since the opening game and plan to use two open fields next to the stadium as overflow parking if necessary. A cleared field directly across Piney Church Road from the stadium was filled with construction equipment over the weekend but will be available to cars in the future, he said. Overall, the team has between 2,000 and 2,100 off-street parking spaces.

"And that is more than the Washington Nationals have," Viniard said.

He said that with "very rare exceptions," fans should not need to park on the street in the future. Some people expressed concern about the safety of those walking down the road to their cars after Friday's game, as roads in the area are poorly lit and have narrow shoulders in many places, but a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office said no accidents or pedestrian injuries were reported.

Charles County Administrator Paul W. Comfort said county officials are looking into ways to alleviate parking woes. They could include running public transit to the stadium from a park-and-ride location. The College of Southern Maryland plans to open outdoor athletic fields across the street from the Blue Crabs' stadium, Comfort said, which would lead to the creation of additional parking spots that could be used during events at the stadium.

"We know it was a problem, and we don't anticipate having those problems in the future," said Capt. Robert L. Cleaveland of the Sheriff's Office.