Parking in K-Town, and WC in general

[gngrasso]

I emailed the city of Kaiserslautern to ask about parking. Thought the response might be useful to anyone driving.

It appears that there will be color coded Park & Ride lots corresponding to the color of your ticket (based on Category of ticket you have).

The street sign can be seen here:

http://www.kaiserslautern.de/wm2006/gastgeber/verkehr/anreise/pkw/index.html?lang=en

PS If this is any indication, I think Germany will really have their act together for this tournament.


************************************************

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your e-mail.


Arrival by car
Kaiserslautern is brilliantly connected to the surrounding urban areas of
Mannheim, Saarbrücken and Rhine-Main through the Autobahns A6 and A63.
(Embedded image moved to file: pic18467.jpg)

The municipal traffic system is connected at three points to the Autobahns.
The connection point Kaiserslautern West is at the same time the connecting
point with the B 270, which connects the cities Lauterecken in the north
and Pirmasens in the south to Kaiserslautern as the main center. Based on
the location in a valley which only opens to the east and west, the city of
Kaiserslautern is dominated by traffic in the east-west direction. The
efficient main traffic system thus has developed essentially in an
east-west direction.

For World Cup visitors, a national unified guidance system has been
developed.
The parking spaces and the corresponding stops are structured according to
the 4 color system of the FIFA. The color code of the tickets corresponds
to the stand allocation in the stadium as well as the allocation to a large
parking lot. The local signs take over this 4 color concept and leads the
visitor to the corresponding parking lot. In the direct vicinity of the
stadium there is no public parking lot.

The P + R parking lots are found:

In the east: Parking lot Schweinsdell, directly located on the A6, exit
Kaiserslautern Ost, capacity 2800 parking spaces.

In the west: Parking lot Einsiedlerhof / Opel, located directly on the A6,
exit Kaiserslautern - Einsiedlerhof, capacity in all 1200.

In the north: Parking lot IG Nord, A 6, exit Kaiserslautern West in the
direction of Weilerback, directly on the B 270, capacity 5000.

In the south: Parking lot University, A 6, exit Kaiserslauern West in the
diretion of Pirmasens, capacity 1800.

The maximum shuttle time from these parking lots is 15 minutes. The visitor
can then decide to exit at the P + R stops in the inner city or directly at
the stadium.

If you need more informations you can go of our Homepage

http://www.kaiserslautern.de/wm2006/gastgeber/verkehr/index.html?lang=en

Yours sincerely

p.p. Sabine Pieler
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WM-Büro der Stadt Kaiserslautern
Willy-Brandt-Platz 1
67657 Kaiserslautern
Telefon: 0631 365-2006
Telefax: 0631 365-1954
E-Mail: wm2006@kaiserslautern.de
URL: http://fifawm2006.kaiserslautern.de
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------=

[dfb547490]

So does this mean there won't be any parking immediately outside the stadium??

If that's the case then we should decide on one of the outlying lots to use for tailgating

[gngrasso]

Absolutely. Do not expect to park in the stadium lots.

Even more interesting, I belive the color codes are actually related to which team you support! Germany is going to great lengths to keep supporters separated in a bid to prevent violence.

Following is from K website:


Separate paths for fans
If during the soccer World Cup 2006 we talk about "green fans", we don't mean the supporters of the Irish national team. In the language of the World Cup planners, "green" means "neutral". Quite the opposite of the "blue" and the "yellow fans". They are allocated to their respective teams - and according to the regulations of the FIFA their trafficking is different. The admission ticket shows the way. Already on the autobahn, corresponding signs are supposed to guide the fans of the opposing teams either to the large parking lot Schweinsdell with 2,700 spaces or to IG Nord with 4,000 places. For the "neutral" fans, there are parking possibilities available at the Einsiedlerhof and at the University. In addition, 2,900 places for the organization committee, guests of honor, the handicapped and further visitor groups are kept ready. A sector separation is carried out on the Messeplatz where space for 120 busses will be made available.

As Jürgen Dressing, the departmental head of traffic at the Kaiserslautern World Cup office, emphasizes, not only the shuttle busses from the respective parking lot to the stadium or the city use clearly defined routes - which are separated from each other. Also fans who walk into the city can find their orientation in the colored signs.

The inner city itself, according to Jürgen Dressing, is supposed to be predominantly blocked to individual traffic on the days of the five World Cup games. This "flexible blocking concept" is supposed to also help the residents, deliveries and the employees of the Kaiserslautern companies to reach their destinations without larger problems. For soccer fans from other places in contrast the city core area is taboo on these days.

Jürgen Dressing believes that the parking place capacity will be sufficient for the World Cup games after completion of the large parking lots. In addition, 120 parking spaces for camping trailers with a complete infrastructure (toilet, shower, electricity, water) will be set up. Then the Daenner Platz (75 parking spots), the square in front of the Burgherren Halle in Hohenecken (20) and the square in front of the TuS hall in Dansenberg (25) can be approached. The Kaiserslautern World Cup planners are counting on a large share of the soccer fans traveling with the railway system, thus easing the traffic situation.

[dfb547490]

Absolutely. Do not expect to park in the stadium lots.

Any clue if that's just for K-Town, or for all of the venues??

Even more interesting, I belive the color codes are actually related to which team you support! Germany is going to great lengths to keep supporters separated in a bid to prevent violence.

Very interesting. Although I'm not inclined to think the types of folks who'd be fighting each other would be driving to the game in the first place...but still interesting.

In addition, 120 parking spaces for camping trailers with a complete infrastructure (toilet, shower, electricity, water) will be set up.

You know the more I think about it, the more I think the best play would've been to get a group together and rent an RV for the 2+ weeks. It'd be expensive but if you get a group of 5-6 people together and count the lack of need for train tickets or lodging my bet is it would've come out cheaper. Plus how cool would it've been to tool around the Autobahn with a huge US flag flying from the roof?? Ah well, probably too late to worry about it now, but it's something to think about for South Africa.

[gngrasso]

Any clue if that's just for K-Town, or for all of the venues??



I'm guessing, but I'd say all venues will be this tight.

[dfb547490]

Incidentally, for those of you who are planning to drive to the games--get there early. I go to Boston College and we don't have nearly enough on-campus parking to accomadate fans on football gamedays (about 45,000, similar size to the K-town and Nuremberg stadiums) so they use a similar system of satellite lots with shuttle buses provided to bring fans to the game. I've never used it myself but from what I hear it's a monstrous pain in the ass.

[AGF Aarhus]

Any clue if that's just for K-Town, or for all of the venues??
I can only comment on Berlin, but I think it goes for all venues.

There are large exclusion zones around the stadiums. People on foot with tickets get in, nothing else does. Parking facilities are provided at some distance from the stadiums. In Berlin, it is three or four transit stops away, and conveniently next to the autobahn.

[stevewhit0]

I wonder how many parking spaces they will have set aside for USA fans.