How to get to, from COTA for F1
AUSTIN (KXAN) — “It’s lights out and away we go,” on the 13th Formula One race at the Circuit of the Americas this weekend.
The big F1 race is Sunday, but starting Friday, practice rounds begin and about 100,000 race fans will descend on COTA and behind the scenes, crews have been doing all they can to outperform on race weekend.
“It’s a big weekend. It’s like two and a half Super Bowls. It’s much bigger than the Super Bowl,” said Bobby Epstein, the Chairman of COTA. Epstein has been there since the beginning in 2012 and has worked to make the transportation experience as painless as possible, even offering six helipads on site.
“The first year, we had the most people take helicopters because they thought it was going to be this traffic from the get-in. And I think people have since figured out, you know what, it’s just as easy to drive,” said Epstein.
There are parking options on site at COTA.
On race day Sunday, there’s a park and ride option for $100 or parking lots for about $200-$250.
The new parking garage that accommodates 1,000 cars is sold out all three days.
And there are two places to hop on the shuttle to and from COTA.
You can park for free at the one at the Travis County Expo Center, and the shuttle costs about $35 a day.
The shuttle spot in downtown by Waterloo Park near 15th & Red River is $57 a day, and you’ll need to pay to park.
“I think people found out that the shuttle bus service works great, also from downtown and from the expo center, and we will bus 30 to 40,000 people over the weekend every day,” said Epstein.
COTA officials bring in 500-600 shuttle buses to accommodate the crowds.
And over the years, there have been significant improvements to the roads in Del Valley leading to and from COTA.
“We’ve got about five new lanes in the last few years, which really helps with both ingress and egress because with ride share, of course, you have cars that come towards the venue even when the event is ending. And it used to be when an event ended, everybody just left. Now, an event ends, you got cars going both ways,” said Epstein.
If using Uber or Lyft, you can only be picked up and dropped off in a certain area, and you’ll have to take a tram to the track.
“We know people come from every state for this, and we know, you know, 40, 50 countries send people here. And so it’s a big event and getting here is just part of the, uh, part of the experience,” said Epstein.
No matter the language race fans speak this weekend, the universal language of an easy drive is one we can all understand.
