Taking Morristown Train to See Pope? Parking Will Be Fine, Official Says

It will be a historic event, but parts of it won’t be pretty at all, specifically the traffic.

New Jersey Transit is encouraging residents to use its services next week when Pope Francis visits New York City for a two-day stay, including a Papal Mass at Madison Square Garden, but says passengers need to be patient and prepared.

One group that is certainly prepared is the Morristown Parking Authority.

“We have adequate space,” for the additional commuters, said Executive Director George Fiore. Morristown, which is home to one of Morris County’s most used train stations, is also home to plenty of parking spaces both in garages and with street meters.

“The Fall Festival brings 40,000 (people), the St. Patrick’s Parade, all those events, and they always find parking,” Fiore said. “There’s parking at Headquarters Plaza and Transit Village on Lafayette. If necessary we’ll have officers help with directing drivers to alternate locations.”

Fiore did say the lot where daily commuters park and pay for monthly passes will likely be filled early each day for those going to work, and finding space there will be hard to come by.

The pontiff will land in New York on Wednesday, Sept. 22, and stay in the area through Friday. Coincidentally, the New York Giants will be playing a home game at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford Thursday night while the New York Yankees will play a home game at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx at the same time. Both events, in and of themselves, create an uptick in traffic congestion between northern New Jersey and New York City.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation is expecting an additional 50,000 cars on the roads while the pope is in town.

The various authorities will be careful to manage traffic that could turn entire roadways - such as Route 1, the New Jersey Turnpike and others - into parking lots.

“If we have alternate roads, we will have to make sure that we will direct traffic appropriately,” said DOT spokesperson Stephen Schapiro. “We have alternate roads that can handle the size of traffic.”

The Department of Transportation is running radio ads, encouraging people to use public transit or to watch it on T.V. “We are advising people to avoid unnecessary travel,” Shapiro said.