Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Events Tourism topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Monterey readies for Car Week with new media hub, traffic map and stepped-up enforcement
Summary
Monterey County and Sea Monterey outlined preparations for Monterey Car Week (Aug. 7–16): an expanded media resource center, an interactive county event map with live traffic cameras and directions, and grant-funded CHP enforcement aimed at street racing and aggressive driving.
Monterey County officials and event organizers on Wednesday previewed preparations for Monterey Car Week, emphasizing visitor services, resident navigation tools and stepped-up traffic enforcement.
Rob O'Keefe of Sea Monterey said the county will host a media resource center during the Aug. 7–16 events and promoted a central information hub. "Nobody owns Monterey Car Week, but we all of us benefit from it," O'Keefe said, noting Sea Monterey's role convening event producers and sharing schedules. He said Sea Monterey estimates more than 100,000 visitors over the period and about $130 million in visitor spending.
The county demonstrated a rebuilt MC Car Week web map that lists major events, shows Caltrans live traffic cameras, provides driving directions (which open Google Maps on mobile devices) and displays road-closure information. Dina Northcutt of the county's Housing and Community Development team said the map is intended to help residents and visitors determine whether events are permitted and to reduce permit-related calls to the county. "We have the Caltrans and CHP traffic layers with the color-coded traffic conditions," Northcutt said while walking through the map features.
Law-enforcement officials said they will use grant-funded patrols alongside normal road patrols to deter unsafe driving during Car Week. Sergeant Mackenzie Crouch of the California Highway Patrol (Monterey area) said CHP will be fully staffed where possible and will deploy freeway service patrol tow trucks on Highway 1 and U.S. 101. "We will be doing aggressive enforcement," Crouch said, adding that authorities may impound vehicles for 30 days for reckless driving or street racing. "We have a 0 tolerance approach to aggressive driving, especially during this week."
O'Keefe said Sea Monterey will coordinate messaging with CHP and Caltrans, increase social-media warnings and amplify enforcement posts to discourage dangerous driving. Officials also urged residents to avoid driving during the busiest times and to consult the county map and live-camera feeds to plan routes.
The briefing did not announce any new road closures; officials said the map will list closures maintained by public-works departments and that the county will publish permit-center contact information for events that fall within city limits.
