NSXPO directions

[Lud]

Does anyone have an address near the NSXPO hotel that will work with any of the mapping services? Or a mapping service that will work with the address of 3300 Championship Parkway, Forth Worth, TX 76177? I've tried MapBlast, MapQuest, Yahoo Maps, Expedia and AAA and none of them recognize that address. Very annoying.

[This message has been edited by Lud (edited 22 October 2002).]

[nicholas421]

http://mapsonus.switchboard.com/bin/maps-maponly/usr=~3db5c088.32d6b.147.5/c=1/refsrc=Maps.com/isredir=1/

[RSO 34]

Mapquest will work if you search for places of interest, click on hotels in fort worth and then look under "W" for Westin Beechwood. Amazingly, Mapquest will not search for the address directly but specifically lists the Westin at the 3300 Championship Parkway address and will give door to door directions that way.

Bob

[Lud]

nicholas - thanks, but the area map it produces does not seem to match the area map on the hotel's website..?? It looks like residential neighborhood. I think Champsionship DRIVE, which is what that service returns, may be a different street than Championship PARKWAY.

RSO - Thanks for the tip, I'll do it that way.

Anyone else - what's the best route for those arriving from the east, especially around late afternoon when I assume traffic is heavy? Do we want to go around Dallas or shoot straight through on I-30? If around, to the north on 635 -> 114 or to the south on 20 -> 35? Or something else?

[docjohn]

Hey Lud as corny as it seems if you are a AAA member they do pretty detailed route planning at thier locations.

[RSO 34]

You can also order an AAA Triptik online. I did it for last year's trek to Road America and it came in handy.

Bob

[Lud]

AAA triptik online does not find that address. I ordered the paper version, we'll see! But I wanted to do some planning beforehand and needed to know distances, etc. Searching by hotel on MapQuest worked for me, though annoyingly you can't do that on their "road trip" section which lets you plan a trip with multiple stops. I have to say I am intrigued that Mapqest can find the hotel (which lists the street address) but if you search for the street address it is not found. Sounds like they pull from different databases. No big deal, thanks for all the help.

[This message has been edited by Lud (edited 23 October 2002).]

[erobbins]

The address won't show up in any online service like MapQuest or MapPoint, as they all get their data from Navigation Technologies, which has not updated their database (the road is very new).

Here's the simple directions (which are also in the NSXPO Participant Guide).

Go to Texas Motor Speedway. Turn left.

It really is that easy... take I-35W in either direction (north or south) and exit at TX-114. Or, take TX-114 westbound from Dallas or the DFW airport to the I-35W interchange. You can't miss it. There are signs for TMS everywhere, and the racetrack borders the interstate.

When you are on TX-114 going away from I-35W (you're now heading westbound on TX-114), the entrance to the hotel (Championship Parkway) will be on the left, just at the end of the TMS parking lots to your right.

EDR

[Lud]

I understand how to get there, I was just looking for mileage from certain points so I could estimate some times.

Any advice on how to best get through / around Dallas coming from the east in the late afternoon?

[erobbins]

Originally posted by Lud:
Any advice on how to best get through / around Dallas coming from the east in the late afternoon?

Hahahahaha.... OK... now that I've gotten that out of my system...

There isn't really a "best" way to get from points east of the Metroplex to TMS during the afternoon rush hour.

Here's three routes:

1. Take US-75 or the Dallas North Tollway to the George Bush Turnpike. Go west on the turnpike to I-35E south. Take I-35E south to I-635 west and proceed as below. Congested areas here are 75 or the Tollway north between 635 and the Turnpike. Basically, you're taking the tollway to avoid 635. It's a much longer route, but often times faster.

2. (this is the way I would go and just deal with traffic). Take I-635 up and over the metroplex in the westerly direction, crossing the Tollway, US-75 and I-35E. Proceed to the terminus of I-635 at TX-121 and take this south. TX-121 south joins with TX-114 west at this point. Take TX-114 west to I-35W. Proceed under I-35W and look to your right. That's TMS. Turn left. That's the hotel! Congested areas here will be every point that 635 crosses any other road. :-)

3. Third option is to take the "south route". Take TX-183, I-30 or I-20 from Dallas over to Fort Worth and head north on I-35W to TX-114 west. I don't know about the traffic patterns here, but I ALWAYS hear about delays and accidents on these roads on the traffic radio during rush hour.

Traffic in Dallas is bad. I-635 here is like the Perimeter in Atlanta or the Beltway in Washington DC. We do have other routes (like GB Turnpike, I-20/30 and the two branches of I-35), but there's just no "easy" way to avoid the traffic.

If you're arriving on Tuesday, don't worry about it. The event doesn't start until Wednesday morning, and I'm sure that you'll make it to the hotel sometime before then.

EDR

[frunobulax]

eric's #2 is spot on. i lived in north dallas before moving to the country (greenville), and i headed INTO dallas in the afternoons. once you're on 635 headed west, it's 60(+) mph all the way round to 75. at that point you're heading OUT of dallas again, and it's 50/50 as to how traffic moves from that point, but it won't be 60(+) till you pass 35E heading to the airport. same comments for heading into and out of fort worth.

you might consider stopping for dinner there at 635 & 75 to wait for traffic to settle down a bit. take the greenville ave exit, there's several restaurants there. actually there are three or four "restaurant rows" along that route, if you get tired of traffic. things usually clear up between 7-8.

if you're really adventurous, you can head north on midway (just past the tollway headed west on 635) 3-4 miles to addison, where there's loads of good food.

don't take 114 before about 7 pm, but after should be ok.

you can also cut way north of dallas by taking US380 out of greenville (where i live), and other US highways across to 35E, then come back south. the backtracking mileage will be about the same either way, but there's fewer options for food. unless you really like gas station food.

depending on how far north you originate, you can also take I40 to OK city, then head south, but it's a crushing bore to drive.

[Lud]

Thanks guys!