First-ever Ironman in La Quinta brings excitement and upset over traffic
The first-ever Ironman triathlon to take place in La Quinta kicked off Sunday — bringing spectators and athletes from across the world to swim, run and bike 70.3 miles. Some even competed for one of 30 qualifying spots to race next year’s Ironman world championship in Nice, France.
The event brought plenty of excitement but also some frustration as locals took to social media to express concerns about traffic issues and road closures.
Several roads were shut down throughout La Quinta limiting access to Washington, Hwy 111 and much of the area’s shopping centers.
The La Quinta Police Department responded to dozens of angry comments on social media, calling the issues “growing pains.” They also said, “We appreciate your comments and will definitely work to make some improvements for next year. Unfortunately this is the first year and there were definitely some growing pains.”
Monday, La Quinta City Manager offered the following statement:
To Our La Quinta Community:
The City sincerely regrets the impact the IRONMAN event had on our residents and businesses. When undertaking this event, the City felt it would bring both excitement and pride to our beautiful community. While it did garner world-wide recognition and was a safe event, traffic was brutally impacted. We most sincerely apologize to each and every one of you for the inconvenience, personal frustration and issues it caused.
With this being a first-year event, we expected there would be problems and Sunday evening we started evaluating what went wrong so that we may learn from this experience. City staff worked with IRONMAN, the Cities of Indian Wells, Indio and Palm Desert, the County of Riverside Emergency Management, the California Highway Patrol, the Riverside County Sheriff, the County Fire Department, American Medical Response (Ambulance), and the La Quinta Police Department to create a traffic plan that would minimize traffic impacts while accommodating a safe event. The event was announced in January 2018 and then promoted through websites, social media, print publications and postcards to each La Quinta household. The plan was designed to facilitate emergency vehicle access and resident circulation, and to not trap or block residents and businesses from going about their day. We are fully aware of the impacts that all experienced and City staff was monitoring the situation and making adjustments throughout the event.
Again, the City of La Quinta extends its apologies to all residents and businesses for yesterday’s traffic congestion. We hope that our community understands that we would never put our resident’s needs last in order to hold an event. We respectfully appreciate the comments and feedback we are receiving and will take each suggestion seriously.
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