Fans travelling to see music icon Beyoncé in Sunderland this Tuesday are warned to make early travel plans and leave plenty of time for their journey.
The city is set to welcome more than 48,000 music lovers to the Stadium of Light as the star stops off on her Renaissance Tour, and, with local transport and travel set to be under pressure, ticket-holders are urged to be well prepared. A traffic management system will be in place to ease to ensure that public transport and roads do not become too congested and there will be closures and diversions on some roads.
Adding to the occasion will be street entertainment in the city centre in the run-up to the concert. Sunderland City Council and Sunderland BID have arranged a programme of events between 4pm and 7pm to encourage people to make full use of city attractions.
These will include walkabout acts, live music, and comedy, such as shopping trolley dance display team Granny Turismo and 'piano driving singing nun' Musical Ruth. So, it's going to be mega-busy. Below is some information fans should know if they are planning to travel to see Beyoncé in Sunderland this Tuesday.
Road closures
Roads surrounding the Stadium of Light will be closed on the day for the concert. So, there will be no possibility of parking or picking up at the stadium. Nor will there be an opportunity to park on nearby residential streets. See car park information here - the new Riverside Sunderland multi-storey car park in Trimdon Street is also available but has to be pre-booked (£7 fee for 24 hours) book here: www.sunderlandparking.co.uk
Keir Hardie Way will be among the closures.
Traffic restrictions will be in place. Drivers are advised to follow the temporary traffic signs, which will be installed, not their sat navs. There will be live updates on traffic site www.one.network
There will be a drop-off area at Dame Dorothy Street (which is now also the closest for those with disabilities as all disabled parking has been allocated), a short walk from the stadium. Those driving into Sunderland should take the A1018, A183 or A690 exits from the A19.
The main Park and Walk site will be at Sunderland Enterprise Park and cars should access it via the A1231 Wessington Way due to the closure of Keir Hardie Way.
Metro and bus
There will be more Metro trains in service and they will run later.
Those wanting to visit the city centre before the concert can get off in Sunderland or Park Lane. If heading straight to the stadium, get off at St Peters or Stadium of Light itself. These stops are due to be busy from mid-afternoon onwards and these are the stops that extended services will leave from afterwards.
Tickets can be bought in advance (£6.20 all-day, all-zone travel). All other Sunderland city centre stations will be closed from 10pm.
For more information see Metro operator Nexus at www.nexus.org.uk/metro/beyonce
For buses see www.stagecoachbus.com/plan-a-journey or www.gonortheast.co.uk/plan-your-journey and for Traveline bus and Metro details see www.traveline.info
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