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By Allison Scarbrough, News Editor
ROTHBURY — As Electric Forest Festival attendees make their way to the Double JJ Resort this week, the Michigan State Police is reminding motorists to be careful.
“Try to avoid the area if at all possible,” said Michigan State Police Spl./Lt. Michelle Robinson, who is the Sixth District public information officer. However, if you can’t avoid it, “be careful; drive alert; and be patient. There are going to be thousands of vehicles coming to the area over the next few days. Northbound US 31 at Winston Road is one of the major entry points for the festival goers. That is a good area to try to avoid.
“We’re probably going to have thousands of cars come to the event today (Tuesday, June 18).”
Water Road, which goes through the venue, is closed to traffic. “The Water Road closure began over the weekend for the production crews to begin setup,” said Lt. Robinson.
Stony Lake Road, located just north of the venue, is another roadway to avoid during the event.
Westbound traffic on Winston Road at Oceana Drive will be blocked soon. “Our biggest concern is that we don’t have any traffic backups on US 31. If we start having a big push of traffic coming in, we’ll ‘double stack’ them, and we will not have any westbound traffic — period. We use both lanes to have everybody eastbound. We will do the same thing on egress when we try to get everybody out. You can’t make a left turn at Winston and Water — you can only go right.”
The Oceana County Road Commission issued a notice Tuesday that another road in the vicinity — Cleveland Road from 88th Avenue to Oceana Drive — is closed until 4 p.m. Tuesday for road maintenance.
Local motorists should expect heavy EF traffic Wednesday, June 19, as festival goers continue to enter the venue and then again Monday morning, June 24, as festival goers leave.
“Anybody that doesn’t have to be in the area, shouldn’t come to the area.
“Please don’t stop on US 31 to take photos or anything like that. People think it’s cool to take pictures of the campgrounds from US 31.” It is extremely dangerous to do that.
“Those who are coming into the festival should pay attention to the MDOT (Michigan Department of Transportation) digital signage, because that tells them — based on the pass that they have — which exit to hop off on.
“Avoid the area if at all possible,” said Lt. Robinson of the Monday morning mass exodus. “There will be thousands of people that we will push out. The big push probably won’t happen until around 10 a.m. or noon. So, hopefully those Monday morning commuters to work will have a decent roadway to get through. Basically, by 10 a.m. Monday, try to avoid the area but be patient if you have to go through.
“Any local residents who live within the festival venue can obtain neighbor vehicle credentials at the village hall,” she said.
The Michigan State Police are under a contract with Electric Forest Festival to provide public safety for the event, and troopers from all over the State of Michigan are on site. Most converged in the area Monday, June 17.
MSP does not release information regarding how many troopers are on site, said Robinson.
“There are a lot of blue state trooper cars in the community. People should expect to see a lot of blue goose vehicles in the area for the next week.
As of Tuesday morning, no traffic issues in the area were reported.
“We want to remind those coming into the festival to use patience and stay in their cars on the expressway. We will move you through as quickly as we possibly can. And make sure you stay hydrated in this heat.”
Those driving electric vehicles should make sure their cars are fully charged before coming to EF. “They should have a full charge or a contingency plan. We don’t have charge packs or anything like that for electric vehicles.” Those driving gas vehicles should make sure their fuel tanks are full before entering the grounds, too.
A new rule this year is that festival goers cannot leave the venue in their personal vehicles between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. unless it’s an emergency. “If they leave the grounds, they won’t be able to get back in.” The rule was made to reduce constant in-and-out traffic as well as for security reasons. The rule is geared toward reducing vehicle traffic in an area that has an enormous amount of pedestrian traffic. “The safety of our festival goers is our number one concern.”
There are transport buses available to take festival goers to stores for supplies.
“We look forward to providing a safe and enjoyable experience for all individuals coming to the festival. All motorists are asked to use patience as the traffic will increase over the next 48 hours.”
If anyone sees something suspicious, they can text 69050, and then “forest,” which goes into the MSP’s unified command system. “If you see something, say something. That comes into unified command, and we dispatch the appropriate response. “This is the first year we have Oceana County dispatch in here, so they will be able to monitor what is going on outside the venue as well. We’re trying to get the response quicker and more efficient.
“We’re here to provide public safety for the event and traffic safety for getting the people in here and keeping the community safe while we do that. Those are our two major roles.”
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