Although the atmosphere around Wanderers is mostly a positive one at the moment, the ongoing issue with traffic around the stadium on matchdays is concerning.
Many fans returned to Adams Park for the first time in 17 months for the friendly against Leicester City on July 28, and went home with a sour taste in the mouth over the parking situation.
Kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes, but many fans still missed the start.
Kick-off at tonight's game is delayed due to traffic around the stadium.
— Wycombe Wanderers (@wwfcofficial) July 28, 2021
The match will start at 7.45pm.#Chairboys
Of course, the location of the ground is far from ideal, so it’s always been time-consuming to drive all the way up to the gates and park at the stadium, but for an attendance below 5,000, the level of queuing was much higher than it was before the pandemic.
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Road closures in the area also didn’t help, but that is set to remain for a little while yet.
If nothing else changes, the big crowds that Wycombe are likely to attract later in the season would cause even more chaos.
Had a ticket for tonight’s #lcfc game at Wycombe, which is about ten miles from where we live. Did not know the A4010 was closed until I got there. I gave up and went home at 7.30 after spending well over an hour in a traffic jam near the ground😡😡. Took me 25 mins to get home.
— Malcolm Boughen (@MalcBoughen) July 28, 2021
Realistically, the only solution for this problem would be an access road from West Wycombe to take some pressure off the bottleneck that is Hillbottom Road.
That’s not going to happen in the short term, so other options must be looked at, and the club have been doing that in recent days.
Wanderers confirmed that supporters will now have to pre-book parking spaces in the upper car park, which should help to some extent, but maybe not as soon as Saturday.
Fans without social media may not have had any way of reading this news, so there could still be some who turn up to the gates only to be turned away.
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The park-and-ride from West Wycombe is certainly a step in the right direction and more services like this as the season goes on would be welcome.
The club also says they’re in talks with bus companies about adapting some routes, but it’s unlikely that these changes will have been made for the season opener.
Due to the nature of Hillbottom Road, the key to solving the problem could well be encouraging more of the businesses on the industrial estate to open their gates for parking.
All I'm going to say is Wycombe were good to their fans and delayed kick off...
— David H (@Nobodywxyz) July 28, 2021
When Wasps played at Adams Park, there was much more parking available along Hillbottom Road in the factories and offices, which made the traffic flow a lot more manageable, even with large crowds for every game.
Queueing around the stadium has always been a problem, and it’s not one that’s going to go away easily, so allow plenty of time for your journey if you’re attending on Saturday.
Perhaps the situation will be better in a month or two if the steps taken by the club come to fruition, and big crowds will be able to enjoy their football once again without any concerns.
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