San Francisco bracing for Super Bowl crowds, traffic

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco residents are being warned to brace for heavy traffic and big crowds when Super Bowl festivities get underway.

The Super Bowl will take place on Feb. 7 about 40 miles south of San Francisco. But the run up to the game includes more than a week of events in the city.

Part of one of the city's most heavily traveled crosstown routes, the southbound Embarcadero, will be shut down from Jan. 23 to Feb. 12, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday (sfchron.cl/1Qa7FoQ). The area will play host to Super Bowl City, a giant theme park, food court and concert venue, starting Jan. 30.

Elsewhere in the city, the Moscone Center will host NFL Experience featuring Super Bowl rings and youth football clinics.

"It's going to be crowded. There is going to be traffic, and there are going to be streets closed," Charlotte Shultz, a member of the Advisory Group for the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee, told the Chronicle. "We're a city that knows how to either take that in stride or complain about it."

City officials are suspending parking permits for several construction sites downtown and also banning metered parking on some streets. They are urging people to take public transit, though neither Bay Area Rapid Transit nor the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District plan to add additional service, the Chronicle said.

___

Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com