Atlanta Braves: first trip to SunTrust Park, thanks to Chevrolet

Traveling

I am located in North Alabama.  Normally, the fastest route to the city of Atlanta would take me down to Birmingham, and the across on I-20.  That would be okay for a Turner Field game – and I had done that in the past – but not for Cobb County and STP.

So instead, I came from North of town down the I-75 corridor.  This was a mid-week day game, so that still meant there was some traffic, but it wasn’t especially horrid.  Still – it was nice to have the visibility from the height of that Suburban.

If you’re coming from the city side, then God be with you.  Though I don’t have local tips, I might consider secondary roads like US 41 or Cumberland Blvd once you get close.

But coming from the North (NW), the proper STP exit is the Windy Hill, agreeably prior to that dreadful I-285 interchange.  It was there that the adventure began.

Parking

This was one thing that the Chevy folks forgot about, but no worries.  The ‘tickets’ for this part of the experience are as straightforward to purchase as the game tickets.  But choose your parking lot carefully.

RECOMMENDATION TO BRAVES:  On your own websites, list every parking lot, its address and walking distance to the nearest stadium gate – plus the local amenities.  I wanted to be able to enter the address on the Suburban’s navigation system, but I didn’t have that information.

Now that I’m back, I did some additional digging and I did find addresses here on a AJC.com website – but some of the information there is already out of date.

Even so, this additional resource has a reference card worth bookmarking and printing.  Be sure to note the disclaimers on each lot.

While I’m on the subject, I also discovered that the stadium’s address is 1100 Circle 75 Pkwy SE, Atlanta, GA.  That’s not what you see when googling ‘address atlanta braves’.  With that, you get 755 Battery Ave. SE… an address that the Suburban did not recognize.  But we did use the touchscreen controls to at least get us close – closer than the parking lot, even!

I admit I’m different from most people.  I am walking-challenged.  It is for that reason that I use a handicap placard in my personal vehicle, and that was carried along on Thursday.

It seriously didn’t do me any good, though.

Now here’s where I might have done a little more homework, but my own expectations here were based on Turner Field, and now I’ll pass along what I learned after-the-fact.  Apparently, you can notify a parking attendant of your needs and they will summon a courtesy shuttle of some ilk to come get you.

When going to games at the “old” park, I would park outside the city, take MARTA in to a spot near Underground Atlanta, walk through there – and there were carts to shuttle those in need – and then board a Braves shuttle bus to the stadium.

This bus stopped just outside the stadium and it was only a few tens-of-yards from there to a gate entrance.  No problem.  Great service.

No so here.

I parked in the East 51 lot.  This is the most remote lot available… but it also was the only one that had a bus service.  I’m curious as to whether it will be universally available for every game, as it wasn’t the case last year.  That information is sketchy for 2018, but given that it was Opening Day. there was no question about it:  that lot was open.

As an aside, most parking garages feature ReallyNarrowSpaces so that they can cram as many vehicles in there as physically possible.  This one wasn’t the case, and the Suburban could be parked in with relative ease… especially since it’s handling, back-up camera, and edge sensing equipment came nicely into play.

From that parking garage, it was about 200 yards down and up to the queue for the buses.  Made that distance okay.  Things moved along, though, and it wasn’t long before my wife and I were aboard.