With a half-hour to go before the 10th annual Atlantic City Airshow, the Boardwalk is packed. Many of those who are already out planned well ahead to get prime viewing spots close to the action or in the shade.
It was an especially early morning for 6-year-old Dorian Cotte, of Somers Point. His dad, John Cotte, has brought him to multiple airshows, but for the first time this year he tried working the show by selling programs for Boy Scout Troop #87.
"It's cool. I like planes," Dorian said.
Meanwhile, traffic on the main roads leading into Atlantic City was congested well before the show started. Traffic on Columbus Avenue off of the Atlantic City Expressway was moving at a crawl as early as 9 a.m.
Last year, the busiest hour at the Expressway's Pleasantville toll plaza eastbound was 9 a.m. At that point, the plaza was at 93 percent capacity of the total traffic it can handle each hour.
The South Jersey Transportation Authority, which operates the Expressway, has said it won't be able to provide counts from Friday's show until Monday.
- Jennifer Bogdan
