Reverting back to the public safety polices that governed Halloween 2000, traffic will be able to enter the downtown area again, although barricades will remain on Franklin Street at Church Street and Boundary Street. Alcohol and weapons checks will also remain part of the program.
The changes must still be approved by the Chapel Hill Town Council.
Last year, the police erected barriers at nearly all the major intersections on the town's circumference within a 1 1/2-mile radius of the downtown area. These barricades were intended to reduce crowd size and divert incoming traffic so fewer people would crowd the downtown area, said Chapel Hill Police Chief Gregg Jarvies.
In addition to the barriers, the town had 300 law enforcement officials on hand to control the crowd. The total cost of running and policing the festivities was $112,000.
While the crowd size was reduced from a previous 50,000 revelers to under 30,000, the barriers and their effects on the party atmosphere angered some merchants, residents and visitors alike. Extreme traffic congestion resulted, and many residents felt their freedom to move had been restricted.
Jarvies and the town hope to combat traffic congestion by potentially using a shuttle service originating at University Mall and dropping passengers off on Franklin Street.
"We hope this solution would allow traffic to be reduced in the downtown area while still allowing residents their freedom of movement," he said.
Bar and restaurant owners expressed frustration, voicing their grievances at a public forum held last week. They also reported to the police directly that they lost money because the big profits that are normally associated with the Halloween celebration did not materialize as they had expected.
Jarvies pointed out that other merchants were delighted with the results of last year's public safety measure because litter, damage and vandalism were reduced. He emphasized that, "Our approach to Halloween is essentially crowd safety."
