Gridlock Alert in place for Germany-Ecuador World Cup match at NYNJ Stadium
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Commuters should expect chaos in Midtown on Thursday as thousands of World Cup fans descend on Penn Station to head to the New York New Jersey Stadium.
The first train heading to the World Cup was at 11:23 a.m. and the last train before the Ecuador and Germany match at 4 p.m. will be at 3:07 p.m.
It shouldn't impact the evening commute, but it is affecting drivers due to street closures across Manhattan during the day.
42nd Street is closed to traffic from east to west from the FDR Drive to West Avenue from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Thursday for $20 buses to get World Cup fans to East Rutherford.
And law enforcement determined it's a national security risk to allow parking at the stadium, so no cars are allowed to park in the 27,000 spots there.
MetLife Stadium holds nearly 80,000 seats for fans and the buses have been selling out fast due to the $20 price, but the buses have been getting stuck in traffic as they approach the stadium, making the ride nearly two hours.
The New Jersey Transit train roundtrip ticket costs $98 and can get fans to the stadium in about 40 minutes.
There are enough trains to take 40,000 fans, but so far only about 26,000 fans are riding them on match days.
However, New Jersey Transit President and CEO Kris Kolluri said so far, things seem to be going well.
"This is the fourth game we're entering into out of eight, so far, so good," Kolluri said. "By that I mean we've been planning this for two and a half years, and what we're focused on is executing on the plan and we're working well with all our partners."
The trains will return World Cup fans back to the city for three hours after the 4 p.m. match.
Those heading out of the city by train for their evening commute should not be impacted.
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