The North Carolina State Fair officially opened on October 16th, as annually expected, but this year it arrived alongside numerous concerts. With major artists performing at venues like the Lenovo Center, and the NC State fair starting up, locals have expected gridlock traffic. Just last year, the state fair alone had nearly a million people attend it in the span of its 11 day stay, so these upcoming attractions being back-to-back is expected to make traffic a nightmare.
This has also happened in previous years. Just last year, on October 19th 2024, during Sabrina Carpenter’s tour, Short N’ Sweet, there was bumper-to-bumper traffic because of the amount of people that were crammed either going to the North Carolina State Fair or towards the Lenovo Center for her tour. The congested roads included: Hillsborough Street, Blue Ridge Road, Trinity Road, Edwards Mill Road, Wade Avenue, Western Boulevard, and Interstate 40. Short N’ Sweet tour attendee, Hannah Riggs, said, “I spent more time in traffic than I did at the venue but it was worth it. Maybe scheduling a concert at the same time as the state fair wasn’t the best idea.”
People didn’t just miss the opener for the tour; many missed the majority of the headliner.
Many concerts are touring at Lenovo Center this season. Chris Brown’s Breezy Bowl XX Tour occurred on October 14th in Raleigh, a precursor to the fair; however the traffic was still rough. In fact, it was so harsh that people were reported walking down I-40 after parking their car on the interstate’s shoulder to make the show. Attendee Chantel Vandroff said she had been stuck in traffic for 5 hours before she ultimately decided to follow suit and walk a mile to the venue. In efforts to prevent this gridlock they opened up parking 5 hours early, yet still, many people had to park off to the sides, which caused roads to block. This is not only a safety hazard for the people walking, but it also delays first responders in cases of emergency.
Singer, Billie Eilish, sold out seating at the Lenovo Center October 16th to 17th as a part of her ‘Hit me Hard and Soft’ tour. The Lenovo Center holds 20,000 seats in comparison to the 57,000 seat capacity at Carter-Finley, where the Breezy Bowl XX tour took place. Since the fair kicked off on Thursday, traffic jams for concerts could be as severe, or even worse depending on the turnout. Additionally, NBA Youngboy plans to tour October 24th and Tate McRae the next day. In other words, traffic could be heavy, possibly even worse than Chris Brown’s concert. Police officials have strongly recommended leaving early to get to your concerts on time, to pay for parking beforehand, and to carpool to limit car congestion.
I attended Billie Eilish Raleigh Night 2 concert on October 17th and experienced the city’s traffic first-hand. I headed towards the concert at 3:40pm, for what is normally a 20 minute drive, but it took about 40 minutes to reach the Lenovo Center. This was mainly due to us trying to avoid busy roads and less because of traffic. Arriving early gave us time to buy tour shirts and posters, take pictures, and watch the entire opener, Young Miko. When the concert ended just before 10pm, leaving the venue proved more difficult. The police were actively directing traffic, but blocked off main exits off of Trinity Road preventing easy access to Edward’s Mill and I-40. This forced many drivers, including us, to essentially be driving in a circle, but eventually after rerouting multiple times, we escaped traffic and headed home. We didn’t make it home until around 11:40pm that night.
Concert attendee, Sarah Hughes, commented, “If someone is going to the fair and can park where they’re closer to Blue Ridge Road, I bet there aren’t any issues. It was because we had to come out the side of the Lenovo Center we were at last night,” referencing the west entrance parking at that venue. It is likely that this exit will be used in the future for concerts during the fair, but they may direct traffic differently than for the Billie Eilish concert.
As concerts and the North Carolina State Fair continue to overlap, Raleigh faces the challenge of congested traffic and gridlock. Until changes are made in scheduling and road management, residents and visitors alike should plan ahead to avoid spending more time in their cars than their event.
