The Fort Collins City Council released an update Tuesday night on the City’s operations during Colorado State University’s first on-campus game day, held two weeks ago. The report states that all City and University operations were executed according to plan with no major issues.
The University and the City have been planning for the year’s first game day for 18 months and have been working closely together.
Approximately 40,000 people participated in CSU’s game day. According to the report, “conditions were very favorable for optimum ingress and egress to the stadium,” citing warm weather which brought over 15,000 participants to the stadium on bikes or by foot and early departures midway through the game.
The city departments responsible for public safety reported no significant issues. Fort Collins Police Services established a communications outpost alongside the CSU Police Department and reported minimal calls.
Over 100 officers were on duty in the City, 30 of whom were at the stadium. Emergency Medical Services responded to 100 calls on CSU’s campus and 60 calls at the stadium. Most calls were related to heat or alcohol consumption. The City’s phone service was reportedly down for two hours prior to kickoff, but was restored shortly thereafter.
Despite initial concerns regarding traffic, the City reported good traffic flows during the game. The City reported congestion around Shields Street before and after the game that resolved quickly.
City transit also saw heavy use; roughly 7,620 people made use of city transportation, accounting for 20 percent of the total attendees, according to the city’s Transit Operations department. The City’s Parking Services department enforced the Game Day Residential Parking Permit Program.
The Residential Parking Permit Program, or RP3, is a city program that allows neighborhoods to request for parking permits in their areas in order to preserve parking spaces for residents in those areas. Those parking in RP3 neighborhoods without a permit are limited to two hours, and those in violation are subject to ticketing and towing. Most RP3 neighborhoods are nearby campus.
The Parking Services department stated that, “despite significant messaging and outreach, there were still some areas requiring towing of illegally parked vehicles.” A total of 49 vehicles were towed and 69 citations were issued by the City.
The report also noted that, “game day operational performance must be looked at as a snapshot in time,” further noting that future game days may have different outcomes based on factors such as weather, opposing teams or scores through the second half of the game.
The Council gave their thanks to the city’s services and to CSU for a smooth past two game days.
“As far as I can remember, (there were) zero complaints on the first game day, and only an indirect complaint on the second game day,” Councilmember Ross Cunniff said. “So, that significantly exceeded my expectations, and it’s greatly appreciated.”
Collegia news reporter Gabriel Go can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @rgabrielgo.
