With the Atlantic City Airshow crowd came traffic — lots of it.
However, it was nothing local police and emergency management could not handle, officials said.
“We have a total traffic plan in coordination with all the different agencies,” Tom Foley, Atlantic City’s emergency management director, said Wednesday.
Foley said about 30 agencies worked together to pull off the show for an estimated 800,000 spectators Wednesday. Last year, officials estimated 600,000 to 650,000 people watched the show.
The larger crowds meant louder “oohs” and “ahhhs” from the city’s Boardwalk and beaches. It also meant more cars entering and leaving the city.
Atlantic City police spokeswoman Sgt. Monica McMenamin said intersections between New Jersey and Albany avenues were manned after 3 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, as spectators began to leave the city. Pacific and Atlantic avenues near the Atlantic City Expressway saw the heaviest traffic, she said.
No accidents were reported during the three hours of high volume traffic, but there were delays, McMenamin said.
“It’s just slow moving traffic,” she said, adding people needed to be patient and aware police were doing everything they could to keep traffic moving.
State Police Sgt. J. Frasca, at the Atlantic City Expressway barracks said additional troopers helped patrol the city and the expressway Wednesday, but he would not disclose the number of state police working.
“We definitely have extra manpower out there,” he said.
Frasca also said no accidents had been reported along the roadway, but traffic into the city Wednesday morning was backed up, as expected.
Besides the vehicular traffic, Foley credited the calm waters with drawing about 1,500 boats — the largest number of boats recorded during the airshow.
Contact Caitlin Dineen:
609-272-7247
