TELL US: Should Parking Lots Open Earlier for Country Fest?

If you had to go down a road that is used by those driving to Gillette Stadium over the weekend, chances are you got stuck in traffic heading to the New England Country Festival.

While the concert brings a party atmosphere and some of the biggest and most popular names in country music to the stadium, it also causes arguably some of the worse traffic   in the area.

With an extra 5,000-6,000 people attending the second show on Saturday, traffic was noticeably worse on the local roads in Foxboro.

At 2 p.m. on Saturday, traffic on Route 140 in Foxboro stretched down Central Street as cars used the road to get to the Route 1 exit on Main Street near the Foxboro-Wrentham border. 

Traffic was so bad that police were needed to help direct traffic around the Foxboro Common for a short period of time.

By 3:30 p.m., traffic was backed up only to the lights near Stop and Shop.

Over in Walpole, any road leading to Route 1 likely dealt with heavy car volume heading to the stadium on both days. A photo posted by the Walpole Police Department show traffic building up at the intersection of Route 1 and 27 as early as 10:37 a.m. on the morning of the second show.

In addition, a bylaw banning residents from parking cars on lawns in South Walpole was enforced in the hope that it would keep traffic moving to the show, rather than having people stop on the way.

Some local residents have commented to Patch that they would like to see the parking lots open earlier to help relive the issue. 

In 2009, the parking lots were opened at 11 a.m. instead of the planned time of 1 p.m. to help relive traffic on Route 1 and side roads. No tailgating however, was allowed until 1 p.m. Concertgoers were warned that the price of parking would be $60 instead of the usual $40 if the lots were forced to open up early but those calls were ignored.

With traffic to the stadium remaining an issue for the show, we want to know if you believe the parking lots at and around Gillette Stadium should be allowed to open earlier than three hours before the show? Would letting people park earlier help relive traffic in Foxboro and Walpole? Leave us a comment and tell us what you think!