By BJ Austin, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-926900.mp3
Dallas, TX – I-35 between Dallas and Norman Oklahoma will be packed today! It's Texas-OU weekend.
The annual Longhorn-Sooner game at the State Fair is tomorrow.
For the past few years, construction along the highway slowed heavy fan traffic. But TxDOT and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation say all lanes of 35 between Norman and Austin will be open during peak traffic hours.
And, State Troopers will have extra patrols on I-35, plus Interstates 20, 30 and 45 --- leading to Fair Park and the Cotton Bowl.
DART plans to have extra trains and dozens of buses ready to get fans to the Cotton Bowl tomorrow. KERA's BJ Austin reports.
DART President Gary Thomas says they've spent the past year improving plans for light rail service to the Cotton Bowl. Last year, thousand of angry fans missed kickoff because they were struck at DART stations waiting to get on over-loaded trains.
Thomas: We hope to be able to move 75 hundred people an hour with our mix of trains and buses. Last year's peak demand was 58 hundred an hour, so we're actually planning on increasing that a little more than 10 percent.
30 buses will meet each Trinity Railway Express Train at Victory Station to take fans onto Fair Park and the game. The Red Line will run special service to Fair Park, and the regular Green Line service will be a continuous loop through downtown to the Fair Park front gates.
Parking on the Fairground is more expensive this year: 15 dollars.
The city of Dallas is also enforcing off-site parking lots, requiring city issues permits and signs to avoid a towing scam that left fans scrambling to find their cars and cash to retrieve them after the game two years ago.