It is no secret that the Texas Renaissance Festival causes traffic congestion in Magnolia, Magnolia Police Department Lt. Kyle Montgomery said, but the volume of traffic is not unique to festival weekends.

However, TRF General Manager Terre Albert said festival officials are testing out some new traffic relief efforts this year as the festival embarks on its 2018 season, which begins its nine-weekend run Sept. 29.

“What everyone sees is the social media posts about how horrible traffic is. Aside from the two to three hours of peak traffic [during the festival], the travel time through the city is less than 10 minutes,” Montgomery said in an email. “This equates to the traffic flow we see every morning during the school year. It is definitely manageable, but we’re always looking to find ways to improve.”

The festival grounds welcomed 644,917 people during the 2017 festival season, its second-highest attendance, according to a Sept. 4 press release.

This year, Albert said the TRF hired Kimley-Horn, a full-service engineering and planning services consulting firm, to help alleviate traffic congestion by analyzing the festival traffic and pedestrian flows. Kimley-Horn has worked with the Houston Marathon, Austin’s Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix, the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons to analyze traffic flows, according to a press release.

“[Kimley-Horn] did a complete study of traffic patterns and came up with alternate routes for festival-goers to travel,” Albert said. “It’s been really great working with a team like this, because we know the traffic gets bad, and this is a way to monitor it and help direct the flow better.”

Albert said the festival team also launched a mobile application last year, available in the App Store and Google Play Store, which includes places to eat, drink and shop; a full schedule of events; and traffic updates and festival news. Those who want to download the app can search “Texas Renaissance Festival” in the respective app store.

After experimenting with social media and with the app, Albert said festival officials came up with one solution this year: take Hwy. 105—which connects to major thoroughfares such as I-45, FM 1774 and Hwy. 290— whenever possible. Festival staff also redesigned the parking lot, debuted double turning lanes for those driving north on FM 1774 in Todd Mission and will have a designated traffic team throughout the festival area, Albert said.

“We really took into consideration not causing the accordion effect with traffic,” Albert said.

For city of Magnolia residents, Montgomery said he suggests getting a designated resident’s sticker at the Montgomery County Precinct 5 Constable’s Office or Montgomery County Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley’s office, which allows residents to drive on local roads closed to festival traffic.

Although a number of construction projects are ongoing along FM 1774 in the Greater Magnolia area—including road widening and railroad overpass projects—no major road closures are scheduled at this time for the festival season, Emily Black, Texas Department of Transportation public information officer, said in an email. Additionally, any construction work will be done behind barriers along the roadways.

“If [someone] needs to pull over or [is] blocking a lane, and it is safe and reasonable to do so, move the vehicle off the main lanes so to not block lanes of traffic,” Black said. “With the barriers along long stretches of the roadway for the construction on FM 1774, blocking a lane would likely cause some major delays.”

Read more about what is new at the festival this season here.