Charleston-Same Day As Bridge Run-Help!!

[mama0413]

We are booked to cruise out of Charleston April 4, 2020.(depending on the Coronavirus)  This is the same day that 40,000+ people will be running in the Cooper River Bridge Run.  How should we navigate this???  Arrive to port super early? Arrive later? Any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated.  

[waterbug123]

4 hours ago, mama0413 said:

We are booked to cruise out of Charleston April 4, 2020.(depending on the Coronavirus)  This is the same day that 40,000+ people will be running in the Cooper River Bridge Run.  How should we navigate this???  Arrive to port super early? Arrive later? Any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated.  

 

Oh boy.   Are you arriving in town that day or the night before?  If that day, where are you driving from?  If the night before, where are you spending the night?

Downtown road closures will begin at 4:30 am, and many closures aren't scheduled to reopen until 2:00pm.  Everything won't be closed....you can still get around, but because traffic will be rerouted, the open roads will be severely congested.  Let me know when you are arriving, where you're coming from and/or where you're staying and I'll see what advice I can give.  (I live in Charleston and Bridge Run morning can be a mess depending on where you are)

[mama0413]

We are coming from Maryland I95 south then 26 east. When we have cruised from Charleston in the past we like to Stay at the Embassy (downtown), but the prices for April 3rd are crazy!  Even the "affordable" hotels are $300+. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                We would more than likely drive the majority of the way Friday and stay somewhere a little more affordable.  With that said.......which route would be the best to take into the port on Saturday? We could then find hotel accommodations from that position.  

I also understand that the most direct route may not be the best route.  So we don't mind driving a little further south on Friday if that puts us in a better situation for Saturday.  We are early birds and usually like to be at the port and all checked in by 10:00ish.  We are Platinum and love taking advantage of being on the ship early.

 

Thank you Meg for your wisdom and taking the time to reply to my post!!

 

I am sure there will be a lot of frustrated and stressed out passengers for boarding!

 

 

Edited March 10, 2020 by mama0413

[waterbug123]

14 hours ago, mama0413 said:

We are coming from Maryland I95 south then 26 east. When we have cruised from Charleston in the past we like to Stay at the Embassy (downtown), but the prices for April 3rd are crazy!  Even the "affordable" hotels are $300+. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                We would more than likely drive the majority of the way Friday and stay somewhere a little more affordable.  With that said.......which route would be the best to take into the port on Saturday? We could then find hotel accommodations from that position.  

I also understand that the most direct route may not be the best route.  So we don't mind driving a little further south on Friday if that puts us in a better situation for Saturday.  We are early birds and usually like to be at the port and all checked in by 10:00ish.  We are Platinum and love taking advantage of being on the ship early.

 

Thank you Meg for your wisdom and taking the time to reply to my post!!

 

I am sure there will be a lot of frustrated and stressed out passengers for boarding!

 

 

 

I generally suggest that for better prices, people bypass downtown and stay in Mt. Pleasant or the West Ashley/Savannah Hwy part of Charleston, and all things considered, Mt. Pleasant is by far the nicer of the two areas to stay.  But the race begins in Mt. Pleasant and goes over the Ravenel Bridge to downtown Charleston.  It ends downtown, just north of the port but suffice to say downtown will all be a mess.  The Ravenel will close in its entirety by 7am.  It is estimated to reopen around 11am, but downtown will take longer to clear out.  To make things as easy as possible on yourselves, I would choose a hotel in West Ashley.  Note that that isn't the name of a town, but is the name given by locals to the part of the city of Charleston that is west of the Ashley River, and is NOT part of the downtown peninsula.  You'll be looking at hotels on Savannah Hwy/Hwy 17, most of which are in the 29407 zip code. You'll be able to get downtown from West Ashley relatively easy on Saturday morning.  That said, with race traffic and one way streets, things will still be a mess once you're downtown.  The race starts at 8am, so if you arrive downtown around 8am, before the runners and walkers begin arriving there from Mt. Pleasant, you can probably get to the port before the chaos, though you'll be sitting a while.  Alternatively, you can wait til 11-12 or so, and get there after a good portion of it has subsided.  Come over the bridge from W. Ashley and veer right onto Lockwood Blvd.  Follow Lockwood to Broad Street and turn left onto Broad to cross the peninsula south of the race activities.  Once you get to East Bay Street, you'll be within a few blocks of the port but I'll admit I don't know how they typically route traffic to the port parking in normal circumstances, let alone when there's a big downtown event occurring.  My guess is there will be more than usual police presence so worse case scenario just flag down a cop and ask if you're having difficulty at that point.

Edited March 11, 2020 by waterbug123

[waterbug123]

I heard yesterday that the bridge run organizers are waiting until next week to decide whether or not to cancel.  Given all the other cancellations, my money says they will do so.  Assuming your cruise is still on, you thus probably won't have to worry about bridge run traffic, road closures, etc.

[waterbug123]

23 hours ago, waterbug123 said:

I heard yesterday that the bridge run organizers are waiting until next week to decide whether or not to cancel.  Given all the other cancellations, my money says they will do so.  Assuming your cruise is still on, you thus probably won't have to worry about bridge run traffic, road closures, etc.

 

And just like that, the Bridge Run is postponed until August 1.  Which will make it miserable for the runners...I don't even want to think about how many additional medical personnel will be needed for people running in the August heat and humidity.   But if your cruise is still on, you won't have to worry about the bridge run crowds downtown now in April.

[TruckerDave]

On 3/14/2020 at 6:36 AM, waterbug123 said:

 

And just like that, the Bridge Run is postponed until August 1.  Which will make it miserable for the runners...I don't even want to think about how many additional medical personnel will be needed for people running in the August heat and humidity.   But if your cruise is still on, you won't have to worry about the bridge run crowds downtown now in April.

I am a runner and have done the bridge run many times and all I can say is that date is asinine (I get that the logistics are probably a massive undertaking. But they are just asking for trouble with the amount of "non runners" who do that run. Not bashing them, just not sure how many are have the knowledge of summer running.)   I'll just eat my entry fee this year as there is NO chance I'll be doing that run in Aug. The bridge run is usually my wind down run for the season anyway and I only do a few "easy" 5k's during the summer. (The Race the landing ones at Charles Towne landing are cool as they feed you dinner after 😁).  Guess I just start looking forward to the fall running season now. 

[waterbug123]

12 hours ago, TruckerDave said:

I am a runner and have done the bridge run many times and all I can say is that date is asinine (I get that the logistics are probably a massive undertaking. But they are just asking for trouble with the amount of "non runners" who do that run. Not bashing them, just not sure how many are have the knowledge of summer running.)   I'll just eat my entry fee this year as there is NO chance I'll be doing that run in Aug. The bridge run is usually my wind down run for the season anyway and I only do a few "easy" 5k's during the summer. (The Race the landing ones at Charles Towne landing are cool as they feed you dinner after 😁).  Guess I just start looking forward to the fall running season now. 

 

On top of the weather, I heard that the new date is also move-in day for CofC, although I don't know that for sure as it doesn't affect me.  If that's true, downtown will be utter chaos that day.