Honest question re: game day parking

Seth53

Well-Known Member
For those of you who used to use the Hawkeye Express, where are you now parking?

Hancher, downtown, Finkbine, other?

I estimate the train ferried 3000 folks a game. Say, four to a vehicle (being liberal here)....that would equate to 750 cars clogging up what is already a messy traffic experience.

I hope somebody (hello B1G contract money) will infuse the proper capital into the train system soon.
 
I'm in Lot 65 but I miss the Hawkeye Express, it was cheap and really neat. But I'm now a season ticket holder, I used the Express when I used to purchase single game tickets. I'm thinking if I was just going to 1 game and needed parking I'd either hit up lots around Kinnick that sell parking on game day (typically $30) or Hancher.

They really need to get the Express back as, you are right, traffic is a complete mess once the game is over. It doesn't help that they are taking forever fixing the I80 & I380 intersection (which was built incorrectly in the first place).
 
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For those of you who used to use the Hawkeye Express, where are you now parking?

Hancher, downtown, Finkbine, other?

I estimate the train ferried 3000 folks a game. Say, four to a vehicle (being liberal here)....that would equate to 750 cars clogging up what is already a messy traffic experience.

I hope somebody (hello B1G contract money) will infuse the proper capital into the train system soon.
We used to use the train exclusively before we had season tickets (mobile pass).

We would park at the mall in Coralville, walk to IHOP and eat, and then ride to the game. It was a great, fun experience for my son and me. My guess is that the train lost money overall and COVID was a great excuse to get rid of it.

We ended up buying a tailgate spot in the Myrtle area and couldn’t be happier. Lucked out with great neighbors in a great location, and have made friends that we wouldn’t have before. $350 for the year and my buddy and I split it. Well worth the money considering you never have to worry about a spot being open and we’re less than a 10 minute walk from the stadium. Also nice because after games we have a place where we can just sit and hangout for a couple hours while traffic thins out.
 
I'm in Lot 65 but I miss the Hawkeye Express, it was cheap and really neat. But I'm now a season ticket holder, I used the Express when I used to purchase single game tickets. I'm thinking if I was just going to 1 game and needed parking I'd either hit up lots around Kinnick that sell parking on game day (typically $30) or Hancher.

They really need to get the Express back as, you are right, traffic is a complete mess once the game is over. It doesn't help that they are taking forever fixing the I80 & I380 intersection (which was built incorrectly in the first place).
How bad do they nail ya for the whole year in Lot 65?

Mennonite church is closer and $280 if you’re ever looking for a shorter walk.
 
How bad do they nail ya for the whole year in Lot 65?

Mennonite church is closer and $280 if you’re ever looking for a shorter walk.

$89.28 is all they charged me for my season parking pass. I plan on selling my parking pass just for the Michigan game for $90.

It is a very good year to be a STH.
 
How bad do they nail ya for the whole year in Lot 65?

Mennonite church is closer and $280 if you’re ever looking for a shorter walk.
We paid the extra $20 to the ticket holder for a spot in lot 65 for the rain game.
Guy in a golf cart said "why not go out the other way, everyone keeps going out the 'main' way. It's jammed."
Yeah, it was jammed....but with a light at Highway 6.
Rookie mistake listening to the guy in the golf cart.
Melrose didn't have a light and it was jammed all the way to 218.
218 was a slogging mess as well due to construction.
Took about an hour to 1.5 to get out and all the way across 80.
 
We paid the extra $20 to the ticket holder for a spot in lot 65 for the rain game.
Guy in a golf cart said "why not go out the other way, everyone keeps going out the 'main' way. It's jammed."
Yeah, it was jammed....but with a light at Highway 6.
Rookie mistake listening to the guy in the golf cart.
Melrose didn't have a light and it was jammed all the way to 218.
218 was a slogging mess as well due to construction.
Took about an hour to 1.5 to get out and all the way across 80.

Usually it's quicker going out on Melrose. I've watched people sit in that line going out towards Carver the entire time it takes me walk up that hill. PSU game was the exception only because we left at a bad time, when the team buses were going by. Security blocked our entrance until the buses went through and took forever to reopen it.
 
We paid the extra $20 to the ticket holder for a spot in lot 65 for the rain game.
Guy in a golf cart said "why not go out the other way, everyone keeps going out the 'main' way. It's jammed."
Yeah, it was jammed....but with a light at Highway 6.
Rookie mistake listening to the guy in the golf cart.
Melrose didn't have a light and it was jammed all the way to 218.
218 was a slogging mess as well due to construction.
Took about an hour to 1.5 to get out and all the way across 80.
Usually it's quicker going out on Melrose. I've watched people sit in that line going out towards Carver the entire time it takes me walk up that hill. PSU game was the exception only because we left at a bad time, when the team buses were going by. Security blocked our entrance until the buses went through and took forever to reopen it.
We don’t even try to leave until a couple hours after the game. Zero point to it. You can either chill out and sit at your tailgate, or go sit and idle in your car for two hours wasting gas.

When the game gets over we walk back to our spot, eat some food, and just hang out.

Like this Saturday we won’t leave our lot until 4:30 ish. By then traffic is completely manageable and you get out of town quick. Why on earth sit in your vehicle idling? It’s about the worst thing you can do to a car.
 
Why on earth sit in your vehicle idling? It’s about the worst thing you can do to a car.

I'm old, impatient, and dumb. But mostly inexperienced witth driving to a game. The only other game I've been to since being a student and living on campus, we stayed at one of those hotels super close to the Hawkeye Express. And i also took the advice of a guy in a golf cart.

Also I got the full story on the Hawkeye Express. It ain't coming back. Not unless someone steps up to pay for it. And it costs like... a lot.
 
We don’t even try to leave until a couple hours after the game. Zero point to it. You can either chill out and sit at your tailgate, or go sit and idle in your car for two hours wasting gas.

When the game gets over we walk back to our spot, eat some food, and just hang out.

Like this Saturday we won’t leave our lot until 4:30 ish. By then traffic is completely manageable and you get out of town quick. Why on earth sit in your vehicle idling? It’s about the worst thing you can do to a car.
I agree, I don’t like sitting in my car idling either. But last year we didn’t leave Kinnick until the HMB marched out of the stadium and then we stopped and listened to the drum line outside the rec center. So we were always one of the last to get to our car. The only game I’ve ever sat in my car was the PSU game, otherwise the traffic moved fairly smoothly going out on Melrose. Had I known it was going to be that bad I would have chilled in the parking lot.
 
I agree, I don’t like sitting in my car idling either. But last year we didn’t leave Kinnick until the HMB marched out of the stadium and then we stopped and listened to the drum line outside the rec center. So we were always one of the last to get to our car. The only game I’ve ever sat in my car was the PSU game, otherwise the traffic moved fairly smoothly going out on Melrose. Had I known it was going to be that bad I would have chilled in the parking lot.
One other thing I like being in the Myrtle as opposed to out west on the golf course side is not having to mess with Melrose when leaving.

We take Myrtle a block east, turn south on Riverside for a few blocks, and then you're right at Hwy 1 which goes right to 218. It takes us the opposite direction for a couple minutes but there's stoplights the whole way and everything keeps moving.
 
I agree, I don’t like sitting in my car idling either. But last year we didn’t leave Kinnick until the HMB marched out of the stadium and then we stopped and listened to the drum line outside the rec center. So we were always one of the last to get to our car. The only game I’ve ever sat in my car was the PSU game, otherwise the traffic moved fairly smoothly going out on Melrose. Had I known it was going to be that bad I would have chilled in the parking lot.
Side note, how long does the walk take you from 65?

I have a couple out of state buddies coming down for the game, and another friend of mine has a pass to 65 that he can't use.

I'm trying to decide whether to tell them to park where you're at or in Hancher which would also be free to them.
 
Side note, how long does the walk take you from 65?

I have a couple out of state buddies coming down for the game, and another friend of mine has a pass to 65 that he can't use.

I'm trying to decide whether to tell them to park where you're at or in Hancher which would also be free to them.

Use the 65 one, it's only a 15 minute walk at the most. The walk from Hancher is twice as long.
 
I'm old, impatient, and dumb. But mostly inexperienced witth driving to a game. The only other game I've been to since being a student and living on campus, we stayed at one of those hotels super close to the Hawkeye Express. And i also took the advice of a guy in a golf cart.

Also I got the full story on the Hawkeye Express. It ain't coming back. Not unless someone steps up to pay for it. And it costs like... a lot.

What's the full story if I may ask....
 
Like this Saturday we won’t leave our lot until 4:30 ish. By then traffic is completely manageable and you get out of town quick. Why on earth sit in your vehicle idling? It’s about the worst thing you can do to a car.

I know this would never happen, but what if hypothetically speaking, Iowa lost this game by a score of something like 42-3 (again I know that this would never happen because Ferentz just doesn't get blown out) and half the fans left by the mid point of the 4th quarter and there was very little traffic after the game, would you still hang out until 4:30?
 
What's the full story if I may ask....

Dear Penthouse Forums:

Stories like this never happen to guys like me. There I was, walking back from a football game. A guy pulled up next to me in a golf cart, I said "hi" to him and before he answered he put a rag over my mouth and nose. The last thing I remember hearing was "say buddy, does this rag smell like chloroform?"
 
I know this would never happen, but what if hypothetically speaking, Iowa lost this game by a score of something like 42-3 (again I know that this would never happen because Ferentz just doesn't get blown out) and half the fans left by the mid point of the 4th quarter and there was very little traffic after the game, would you still hang out until 4:30?
Probably, because we eat a meal before hitting the road for 5.5 hrs.

Funnily enough, the reason we’re sticking around this week has nothing to do with traffic or football. My kid started working with a private XC coach this year and his Saturday workout is a 12 mile run. We obviously have the drive down in the morning and the game until 2:30 or so, and there’s no good way to run in our town after dark so he’s going to change and do his run in IC right after the game.

His idea and his choice. He’s dedicated to it.
 
Probably, because we eat a meal before hitting the road for 5.5 hrs.

Funnily enough, the reason we’re sticking around this week has nothing to do with traffic or football. My kid started working with a private XC coach this year and his Saturday workout is a 12 mile run. We obviously have the drive down in the morning and the game until 2:30 or so, and there’s no good way to run in our town after dark so he’s going to change and do his run in IC right after the game.

His idea and his choice. He’s dedicated to it.
...and how far are you running...?
 
What's the full story if I may ask....
The owner of the railroad (I forget which) that provides the cars was friends with the AD. The track belongs to different railroad company. They do cooperate, though..
I assume the AD Barta? It started about the same time he came aboard (hah.....see what I did there?)
Whoever the AD was helped cook up the idea with the railroad owner. It was more or less a one time and/or limited deal. But, turned out so popular that the owner of the railroad and cars decided to keep it going on goodwill. It's not his track, so if he pays Iowa Interstate who owns the track, he doesn't pay much. Either way, with all volunteers operating the thing, it's still a huge net loss for the railroad. The cost of managing all the moving parts is probably worse. Railroads have a lot of regulatory/insurance/headaches that are always lurking behind every corner. The University/Athletic department never contributed in any way.

There was talk at one point of bringing the steam engine owned by company that owns the track to run the Express once for a special event......back when it was running. Lay on to the whistle for the Wave.

Of course, I told someone who was involved, that was acceptable. Just no whistle for touchdowns, etc. Y'all know how I feel about artificial noisemakers like tornado sirens and such.
 

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