Transportation, Traffic Information For Trump's Wildwood Rally

WILDWOOD, NJ — If you're among the thousands who have requested tickets for President Donald Trump's rally in Wildwood on Tuesday, getting around the area will be a challenge.

Road closures around the Wildwoods Convention Center will begin Monday morning, Wildwood police announced Saturday. Police continued to announce updates on Sunday, including information on handicapped parking.

The rally is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday, with the convention center scheduled to open at 3 p.m. Thousands of people are expected to arrive much earlier to get in line for the first-come, first-served access to the arena.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, whose district covers Cape May County, has said more than 100,000 tickets have been requested for the rally at the arena, which holds about 7,400 people, according to the Wildwoods Convention Center website.

Wildwood Mayor Pete Byron has said the town, which has a year-round population of 5,000, gets as many as 150,000 visitors on a summer day, NJ.com reported.

Wildwood police announced that traffic signals along the peninsula will go back to cycles from Monday morning through Wednesday morning. In the offseason, traffic signals blink in Wildwood and its neighbors, North Wildwood and Wildwood Crest.

Road closures will begin Monday morning as well.

Police posted a map of the tentative event closure area, which could change as needed. The area shaded on the map, which includes traffic prohibitions, runs from Baker Avenue south to Hildreth Avenue, and from Atlantic Avenue east to the beach. (A map showing the area is at the bottom of this article.)

Police on Sunday said a dropoff area will be set up for people coming for the rally by Uber, Lyft, taxis or personal vehicles. That area is the shoulder of the road on the 4600 block of New Jersey Avenue, just south of Burk Avenue. Pedestrians then will have a two-block walk to Fox Park, right across Ocean Avenue from the convention center.

"Dropping at this location will avoid the road closures and traffic delays associated with the event site area," police said.

Wildwood Beach also will be closed to both vehicles and pedestrians and anyone found walking or driving on beach will face questioning from federal authorities.

Where to park

Parking lots nearest to the convention center will be closed, but metered parking spaces are available on the sidestreets that run perpendicular to Atlantic Avenue. The meters are turned off during the winter, so parking will be free.

Handicapped parking will be available at the lot at Hand and Ocean avenues, south of the "Wildwoods" sign. When that lot fills, the access will be for handicapped drop-off only and drivers will need to find parking spots elsewhere.

There also will be an Americans with Disabilities Act dropoff at Rio Grande and Ocean avenues, accessible from Hand Avenue. It will be for passengers requiring ADA dropoff only.

There additionally may be pay-to-park lots that open for the event, but how many and where were not clear.

People are being warned to not block driveways and to not park illegally on private property, at the risk of being towed.

Route 47 closure

While road closures in the immediate area of the convention center will affect traffic, the closure announced Jan. 20 on Route 47 where it crosses Dias Creek is expected to have minimal impact on traffic to the rally, the state Department of Transportation said.

The closure, from West Hand Road to Indian Trail Road, is on a portion of Route 47 that is west of the Garden State Parkway and Route 9, and not part of the primary routes that most people coming for the rally are likely to take, said Stephen Shapiro, a spokesman for the state transportation department. (See the map below.)

The stretch of Route 47 that runs from the Parkway into Wildwood is east and south of the closure.

Shapiro said a 3-foot sinkhole opened that required emergency repairs, and there are numerous sinkholes that have compromised the road.

"There is a culvert consisting of two pipes that carry Dias Creek underneath Route 47," Shapiro said. "The pipes have cracked, allowing water to erode the underlying soil supporting the pipes, causing an unstable condition making it unsafe to drive on this section of Route 47. This is necessary emergency work that was scheduled before the announcement of the President’s visit and unfortunately cannot wait."

The portion of Route 47 that is east of the Garden State Parkway has been under construction since 2019. A Cape May County project has reduced the Route 47, also known as West Rio Grande Avenue in the area, to one lane in each direction. The affected area is from Susquehanna Avenue to New Jersey Avenue.

Coming by bus

For those who want to come by bus, NJ Transit has a bus route that runs from Atlantic City to Cape May County and makes stops in Wildwood. Bus Route 552 has a full daily schedule of buses that run about every 50 minutes from Atlantic City along the route.

An NJ Transit spokesman on Friday said the agency has no plans to increase the number of buses on the route for the rally, but officials are monitoring the situation in case adjustments are needed.

Riders can take the bus from several stops in addition to Atlantic City, as the route has stops at the Cape May Welcome Center, in North Cape May, Villas, Middle Township, Rio Grande, Wildwood, North Wildwood, at Atlantic/Cape Community College and at Cape Regional Medical Center, at the Crest Haven County Complex, the Ocean View Park & Ride on the Garden State Parkway, and the Atlantic City Bus Terminal.

Note: This article has been updated to correct the bus number for NJ Transit buses on the Atlantic City-to-Cape May route. Patch regrets the error.