Dallas St. Patrick’s Day Parade Brings Major Greenville Avenue Closures on Saturday
Dallas is set for one of its biggest spring crowds on Saturday as the city’s 45th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Festival returns to Greenville Avenue, with the parade starting at 12 p.m. ET and nearby road closures beginning earlier in the morning.
The parade will start at Blackwell Street and move south on Greenville Avenue before turning at SMU Boulevard and dispersing. Festival activity begins earlier, and a full day of events around the corridor is expected to keep traffic tied up well beyond the parade itself.
Parade Route and Timing
The main parade is scheduled to run from 12 p.m. ET to 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 14. Organizers list Blackwell Street as the starting point, with the route continuing south along Greenville Avenue and ending near SMU Boulevard.
The festival opens at 10 a.m. ET and is expected to draw large crowds to the same area. Dallas transit officials say the event regularly attracts more than 100,000 people, making it one of the city’s highest-profile annual street celebrations.
That combination of parade traffic, festival foot traffic and nearby parties means the practical impact on the area begins well before the first floats move.
Greenville Avenue Closures Begin Before Noon ET
The city’s traffic advisory says Greenville Avenue from Park Lane to Mockingbird Lane will close starting at 10:45 a.m. ET and remain shut until post-parade cleanup is complete, with reopening estimated around 5 p.m. ET.
Parking is also banned from 9 a.m. ET to 5 p.m. ET along the parade route and in several nearby lots and frontage-road areas, including parts of the Central Expressway service road between Mockingbird Lane and Park Lane.
For people trying to cross the route on foot later in the day, four pedestrian crossing points are planned after 2 p.m. ET at Southwestern Boulevard, Lovers Lane, Milton Street and University Boulevard.
Lower Greenville Block Party Extends the Traffic Impact
The parade is only part of Saturday’s disruption. A block party in Lower Greenville is scheduled between the 2700 and 3000 blocks of Greenville Avenue, with closures from 8 a.m. ET to 9:15 p.m. ET.
That event affects Goodwin Avenue, Vanderbilt Avenue, Vickery Boulevard and part of Greenville Avenue from McCommas Boulevard to Belmont Boulevard. Several nearby streets will be limited to resident traffic only for most of the day, cutting off through access in a busy stretch south of the main parade route.
For drivers, that means congestion is likely to spread beyond the core parade corridor and linger into the evening.
5K and Concert Add to an Already Busy Schedule
Saturday’s schedule also includes the St. Paddy’s Day Dash Down Greenville 5K, which starts at 9 a.m. ET near University Boulevard. Temporary race closures begin at 8 a.m. ET and lift as runners pass through.
Later in the day, a concert at Energy Square is scheduled from 2 p.m. ET to 9 p.m. ET. University Boulevard between North Central Expressway and Greenville Avenue is set to close from 11 a.m. ET to 10 p.m. ET for that event.
Taken together, the race, parade, festival, concert and block party will keep much of the area under event traffic control for most of Saturday.
DART Is Expanding Service for the Celebration
Transit is expected to be the easiest option for many attendees. Extra Red and Orange Line service is being added from 7 a.m. ET to midnight ET, serving Park Lane, Lovers Lane and Mockingbird stations.
Bus routes 3 and 17 will be detoured for the day until the parade ends, while routes 105, 209 and 249 are expected to stay on their normal patterns.
For anyone heading to Greenville Avenue on Saturday, the clearest takeaway is simple: arrive early, do not count on parking close to the route, and expect the St. Patrick’s Day crowds to shape traffic in the area from the morning into the evening.
