UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State Transportation Services has announced traffic, parking and transit impacts related to Penn State’s annual Homecoming parade, which will wind through campus and downtown State College beginning at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22.
Parade route and parking
Parade participants will organize in the Orange B parking area near Nittany Lion Softball Park, and the fields east of Medlar Field. From there, the parade units will follow the following route:
- From Curtin Road and travel west, crossing University Drive, where the parade will be joined by units that have formed in Orange B and on the IM fields north of the IM Building.
- West on Curtin Road to Bigler Road.
- South on Bigler Road to Pollock Road.
- West on Pollock Road to Shortlidge Road.
- South on Shortlidge Road to College Avenue.
- West on College Avenue to Burrowes Road.
- North on Burrowes Road to Curtin Road.
- The parade will disperse at the Burrowes/Curtin intersection.
The parade route will be closed to vehicular traffic from 5:30 p.m. through the conclusion of the parade. Parking along the route will be restricted. Motorists must remove parked vehicles on College Avenue prior to the start of the parade.
Paid visitor parking will be available for $1 per hour at the following locations:
- Nittany Parking Deck
- East Parking Deck
- West Deck
- HUB Deck – Please note that vehicles will be unable to exit the HUB Deck from approximately 5:30 p.m. through the conclusion of the parade.
Please note that most other campus parking areas are reserved 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and require a valid permit.
Normal evening/weekend regulations will be in place for faculty/staff and student permit holders.
Impacts to men's hockey parking
Parking for men’s hockey will be at the Commuter lots with pre-paid parking available for $5.50 through psu.parkmobile.io, or day-of cash parking for $10.
The Yellow H Shields and Wagner lots will be reserved for men’s hockey premium permit holders, who will have access to their lots from 4:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. After 5:30 p.m., premium permits will be accepted in the general parking lots Jordan East and Stadium West.
Parade-related road closures
To accommodate the parade, the following roadways will be closed on Friday, Oct. 22 (see times for closing below):
- Porter Road between Curtin Road and the southernmost entrance to the Jordan East parking area from 4:30 p.m. until parade units have left the area (expected to be around 6 p.m.).
- Curtin Road between University Drive and Porter Road from 4:30 p.m. through the conclusion of the parade.
- Curtin Road between University Drive and Bigler Road from 5:30 p.m. through the conclusion of the parade.
- Bigler Road between Curtin Road and Pollock Road from 5:30 p.m. through the conclusion of the parade.
- Pollock Road between Bigler Road and Shortlidge Road from 5:30 p.m. through the conclusion of the parade.
- Shortlidge Road between Pollock Road and College Avenue from 5:30 p.m. through the conclusion of the parade.
- College Avenue between Shortlidge Road and Burrowes Road from 5:30 p.m. through the conclusion of the parade.
- Burrowes Road between College Avenue and Curtin Road from 5:30 p.m. through the conclusion of the parade.
As a result of the impacts to Burrowes and Pollock roads, vehicles exiting Brown A, Brown B, Brown C, Brown E and Old Main will be directed to travel northbound on Fraser Road from Pollock Road to Curtin Road. The gates on Pollock Road near Old Main will be raised Friday evening to allow Brown B and Brown C permit holders to utilize this exit route and the bollards separating Fraser Road from Curtin Road will also be removed to allow vehicles the exit route.
All vehicles attempting to exit Jordan East will be required to do so via Dauer Road to University Drive or via the southernmost exit to Porter Road near the outdoor track beginning at 5 p.m. Friday.
Penn State University Police will be directing traffic at various intersections on campus, but delays should be expected.
Parking impacts
The section of Orange B north of Nittany Lion Softball Park will be closed all day Friday. Alternative parking will be available at the Commuter lots (Stadium West, Jordan East, Porter North).
Parking in the two sections of Orange B near Stone and Snyder halls will remain available, however, vehicles which have not left by 5 p.m. will be unable to leave until the conclusion of the parade.
Faculty, staff, and students who do not wish to remain parked until the conclusion of the parade should make plans to remove their vehicles from the following areas before 5:30 p.m. today:
- Yellow H (Shields Building)
- Yellow H (Wagner Building)
- Orange J (McCoy Natatorium)
- Lot 42 (north of Building 14) - vehicles must exit via Millennium Drive to Hastings Road.
- Lot 81 (at Ritner/Wolf halls and Pollock Building) - vehicles must exit to Mifflin Road then travel south to McKean Road.
- HUB Parking Deck
- Yellow J (Atherton Hall)
- Yellow N (College Avenue in front of Health and Human Development)
- Red H (Noll Lab)
- Green C (Waring Commons)
- Red K (ARL) - vehicles will be able to exit west through the 101 N. Atherton St. Building parking lot to travel northbound on Atherton Street.
Fraser Road will be open to Curtin Road, so permit holders parking in the following areas wishing to use their normal exit routes should plan to exit prior to 5:30 p.m.:
- Old Main
- Brown B (Pond Lab)
- Brown C (Osmond Lab)
- Brown E (Sparks Building)
- Brown A (Willard, Reber, and Deike buildings) - vehicles parked in the Reber and Deike sections of Brown A must access Fraser Road by traveling north between the Willard and Steidle buildings.
If exiting these lots after the beginning of the parade, vehicles should travel on Pollock Road to Fraser Road, travel northbound on Fraser, and exit on Curtin Road.
University Police will be stationed along the parade route beginning at 5 p.m. to help facilitate rush-hour traffic flow and begin closing the route.
Impacts to CATABUS and Campus Shuttle service
As a result of road closings across campus during the parade, routing changes will be made to the majority of CATABUS routes (including the Blue Loop, White Loop and the Red Link) from approximately 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday. CATABUS service to and from the following locations will be unavailable for the duration of the parade:
- East Halls, Wagner Building, IM Building, Shields Building, the Centre County/Penn State Visitor Center, Hastings Road, Curtin Road (including the Pattee Transit Center), Bigler Road, Pollock Road, the White Building, College Avenue between University Drive and Atherton Street, and Burrowes Road. Additionally, there will be no access to the Stadium West and Jordan East parking areas.
The A, HM, HU, K, N, NE, R, V, W, WE, XB and XG patrons are encouraged to catch the bus at temporary stops on Park Avenue. The White Loop and Red Link also will service Park Avenue and transport patrons to west campus to catch outbound express buses. The NE, P, RC, VE and WE will pick up patrons at the bus stops on White Course Drive. There will be no Blue Loop service during the parade.
Campus Shuttle service will end at 5 p.m. Friday due to parade-related road closures.