Friends, just a heads up about the complete mayhem that is about to take place on Thursday evening. Not only will the the N.C. State Fair Canned Food Day be going on, but the Florida State Seminoles will be visiting for Chapel Hill’s first-ever Thursday night game. ESPN is covering the game and was nice enough to move the airtime back to 8:00pm. That should allow fans a better chance of at least being in the Chapel Hill city limits by gametime.

My suggestion is to avoid Interstate 40 at all costs. If you have been to mid-week game in the Smith Center against an ACC foe, you know that traffic is horrible west of the Durham Freeway. This will be three times worse. Instead of 40, take U.S. 64 to Fearrington Road ( map it ), head north on Fearrington until it reaches 15-501, and turn right. Follow the traffic down the winding Columbia Street which leads to the Hospital area.

Another option is to take 64 to 751, then turn left on Stagecoach Road. This can lead to either the Friday Center or Fearrington, depending on your route.

For certain, though, whatever route you choose, make sure you leave home or work about 1.5-2 hours before you normally do. Those who leave work before 5 will certainly have an advantage over those who swing by home on the way home from work.

The UNC Athletic Department has really dropped the ball on this one. They should have arranged for area cities to run otherwise dark municipal busses into the area to help alleviate the problem. Afterall, large-capacity transit is the answer to all traffic problems, right?

This situation could potentially be far worse than the U2 concert because once again, Highway Patrol and area media have not clued in thus far. However as is usually the case, gogoraleigh readers have an advantage, and will continue to be baffled by people making dumb moves and crying on the highway about it!