Katie Paeplow hasn’t been to The Pavilion at Star Lake in 10 years.
Even when artists she likes performed there, she opted not to go because she said she dreaded the prospect of sitting in traffic for hours on the Washington County concert venue’s single entrance road.
The outdoor amphitheater can hold about 23,000 people and attracts a cavalcade of national acts every summer. The concert calendar for 2024 includes New Kids on the Block and Paula Abdul, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hozier, Jason Aldean and Imagine Dragons.
But the potential wait in hours of traffic can keep concertgoers like Paeplow away.
It has been an issue since the first concert there nearly 34 years ago.
The venue operator has experimented with opening parking lots earlier, traffic-easing measures and ride-sharing options, but the issue remains the pinch point at the entrance — a high volume of traffic cramming onto the two-lane Star Lake Lane from the four-lane Route 18 just outside of Burgettstown.
However, when Paeolow’s favorite artist, Noah Kahan, announced his concert at the Pavilion, she recruited her friend McKenzie Sauder and decided to make the trek. Both women took a day off work in an effort to make the concert in plenty of time.
“We were really paranoid, so we got here super early,” said Paeplow, of Pittsburgh’s Brookline neighborhood.
Despite being almost seven hours early for the show, Paeplow and Sauder still got caught in traffic and had to be rerouted to a side road in an effort to ease congestion on Route 18 — the turnoff toward Star Lake is located near Route 18’s intersection with Route 22/30.
They were finally let into the venue just after 2 p.m.
She considered it a light sentence compared to what she’d experienced in the past.
“I stopped coming to the venue,” she said. “Even if there are artists that I love performing, I refuse to come here. Noah Kahan was the only exception. I avoid it at all costs.”
She bought a parking spot in the venue’s Premium Reserve lot for an extra $100. The lot next to the venue’s entrance and exit enables people to come to the venue early — in this case, at 2 p.m. She said that she would have been happier with the decision if she didn’t have to spend an extra six hours at the venue for it to be effective.
“I’m a huge fan (of Kahan),” Paeplow said. “I’ve been following him since 2018. Any time he’s in town, I have to go. It wasn’t an option for me to potentially miss it and that’s what I was so nervous about.”
The women set up a tent over the trunk of their car and enjoyed snacks, drinks and games as they made a day of waiting for the concert to start.
“We just heard horror stories from some of our other friends that had been at a concert here,” Sauder said. “They were telling us how bad (the traffic was) before the show to get in. It was either them or someone with them that missed a good chunk of the concert because of it.”
Issues from the get go
The venue opened as Coca-Cola Star Lake Amphitheater in 1990, with Billy Joel serving as the first national act to grace the stage. Even then, long lines of cars waited to enter the parking lot.
Three-plus decades and several name changes later, the traffic problem persists.
General admission parking is included with tickets to shows at Star Lake, but Live Nation, which owns and operates the venue, strongly advises that guests purchase “Premier” and “Reserved” parking in advance of their event — though their website makes clear that “Premier and Reserved Parking DO NOT guarantee early exit out of the parking lot.”
The general lot is open two hours before the gate time for concerts, and tailgating is permitted.
Susan Pearson of Washington County had a similar experience to Paeplow. She also paid for premier parking and tailgated with her family for just under six hours before Kahan’s concert.
“I try really hard not (to come to shows at Star Lake) because of the traffic,” Pearson said.
Pearson said she took her father to the Billy Joel concert back in 1990. In an effort to navigate the exit line, her father mistakenly drove over an embankment and swore he’d never come back because of the traffic. He’s held true to that promise ever since.
Pearson, though, has caved a couple of times.
“We were here in 2017 and before that, I couldn’t tell you the last time I was here,” she said.
Pearson said she was willing to make an exception because she and her daughter love Kahan.
“He’s the only reason we’re here,” Pearson said.
Live Nation offered two alternate routes to alleviate some of the traffic burden. They involve taking the Bavington exit from Route 22, following Steubenville Pike, then either turning left on Bavington Road or turning left onto Route 18 South and following signs to the Pavilion at Star Lake.
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Last June, fans attending the Dead & Company show at the venue claimed to have experienced backups that had them waiting in their cars for so long that many missed all or part of the show. Reports of attendees sitting in cars for up to four hours — or abandoning cars altogether by the side of the road — abounded on Facebook and Twitter.
A similar incident occurred in 2019, when country music star Luke Bryan performed at Star Lake. For that show, many attendees said that they were stuck in their cars for up to three hours. The summer before that, delays were so severe at a Jimmy Buffett show that Live Nation provided “concert cash” vouchers for guests who did not pass through the venue’s gates by 8:25 p.m.
Live Nation has acknowledged the ongoing traffic problems by sending email alerts to ticketholders ahead of popular events, opening parking lots earlier and posting about acute traffic issues on the venue’s social media pages. They also encourage attendees to carpool and use rideshare services.
“We want fans to have a great night every time they come to see a show here. We have worked closely with the Hanover Township Police Department and PennDOT to thoroughly evaluate and update arrival, departure and parking operations, including incorporating engineered traffic plans and promoting alternate routes to ease congestion,” said Matt Rogers, regional vice president at Live Nation.
Officials at Hanover Township did not return multiple messages asking for comment.
Attempts to alleviate traffic
“We have partnerships with The Burgh Bus for local pickup at Duquesne Incline Lower Parking Lot on West Carson and a new partnership with Uber Shuttle launching this summer,” Rogers said.
The Burgh Bus is using one of their buses as a shuttle for every concert at Star Lake this summer.
For $45 round trip, riders can board the bus in the Duquesne Incline lower parking lot on West Carson Street on Pittsburgh’s South Side and disembark at Star Lake. The bus will use the designated drop-off lane outside of the venue. Then, those taking the bus will meet back up in the same place after the show for the trip back into town. Each bus has a 44-seat capacity.
“We’re going to be leaving three hours before the showtime starts, before any music starts, to give us enough time to get there,” said Nick Walker, co-owner of Burgh Bus.
Shuttles have already sold out for several concerts, including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hozier and Tyler Childers. Walker said that they’re considering an additional shuttle for those dates to meet more of the demand. “Even the Pitbull (concert) is already almost sold out, and that’s not until the end of September,” he said.
Bus riders can even bring food and drink, including alcohol — though no glass — onto the shuttle.
Walker said that the shuttle will be cheaper than surge pricing experienced by attendees attempting to use rideshare services such as Lyft and Uber.
Star Lake will be one of four venues across the United States to be part of an Uber Shuttle pilot program, the company announced in May. These shuttles will have between 14 and 55 seats and can be booked a week ahead of time by concertgoers.
Live Nation has made a few other improvements for this concert season.
“This summer we’ll have parties in our parking lots and open up the doors as early as possible to allow fans to arrive early and beat the traffic,” Rogers said.
For Kahan’s show on Wednesday, which had a start time of 8 p.m., early parking was available starting at 2 p.m. and Live Nation hosted a parking lot party starting then. The general parking lot opened at 4 p.m., and doors opened at 6:30 p.m.
The concert ended just before 11:30 p.m. What would be an average 30-minute drive home for a TribLive reporter turned into an hour-and-a-half waiting game in the parking lot, making the total trip more than two and a half hours.