80-100,000 people are expected to visit Manchester this weekend for the popular Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The entertainment starts Thursday night and already there are people camping out in wide open parking lots around Manchester waiting for the opening day. Traffic is expected to be much heavier during this year’s event compared to year’s past as the festival is sold out. The festival is celebrating their tenth anniversary.Tennessee Department of Transportation and the Tennessee Highway Patrol are preparing for the extra traffic. Both organizations are working carefully with the Coffee County Law Enforcement Officers to keep traffic moving on I-24 while also getting Bonnaroo attendees to their destinations. The festival promoters have worked throughout the year on a plan to efficiently handle traffic during the festival
Because of the special 10th anniversary celebration the gates will open Wednesday evening at 7:00. State troopers will be on the job 24 hours a day beginning Wednesday night patrolling on ground and by air. THP helicopters will assist in relaying important information to marked patrol cars and motorcycles on the ground. During Bonnaroo 2010 Troopers wrote 221 citations and worked 39 traffic crashes. The festival winds up Sunday night June 12th
