Wheeling Police have advice about Italian Festival traffic - WTRF 7 News Sports Weather - Wheeling Steubenville

Wheeling is about to be transformed into Little Italy.

At noon Friday, they will kick off festivities that will last all weekend.

But festival-goers are urged to focus on the logistics as well as the fun, and that means traffic and parking.

Of course Water Street, where the festival is held, will be closed to all traffic.

So will 11th and 12th streets, from Main to Water, and so will South Street,  that runs between the Intermodal Transportation Center and Wesbanco Arena.

Those are expected to pose no real problem.

But police say the volume of traffic--thousands or even tens of thousands of people--all headed to the same place, can cause slow-downs and frustration.

"So we ask that you be patient and find a legal parking spot," says Deputy Chief Martin Kimball. "Enjoy yourselves and have a good time. We will do our best to make sure that traffic moves as smoothly, especially at peak times such as Friday evening and Saturday evening during the fireworks."

Kimball says everyone wants to go to the Italian Festival, but most give very little though to traffic and parking, and they drive in at the last minute.

He asks people this year to make a plan, budget their time, and come to town early, so they can get parked and enjoy the festival safely.