Watch CBS News

Philadelphia, Transit Officials Lay Out Plans For Eagles' Super Bowl Parade

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia is gearing up for what will possibly be the biggest celebration the city will ever see.

Millions of people are expected to gather in the City of Brotherly Love on Thursday for the Eagles' Super Bowl parade.

"We do anticipate tremendous crowds, potentially topping the number that turned out for the 2008 Phillies World Series parade," said Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney.

Full Information On Eagles' Super Bowl Parade

This time around, the parade will end at the Art Museum to avoid the travel overload that happened in 2008.

"We'll be going nice and slow so people can see, and it will be open air, they won't be enclosed vehicles," said Fred Stein of The Creative Group.

If you're looking for food, businesses on Broad Street will be open and there will be 40 food trucks near the Parkway.

As for drinks, people might want to keep it simple.

"What I would tell people is don't bring backpacks or beer with you, they'll be taken from you," said Kenney.

PATCO Plan For Eagles' Super Bowl Parade: Service Changes And A Plea For Patience

Security will be tight, but there won't be magnetometers or anything like that.

"We will have officers in preventative patrol assignment in uniforms and out who will be able to detect anything that seems out of order," said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross.

The city has also launched a service to keep people in the know as you can text EAGLESREADY to 888-777.

"That's going to allow us to share info about mass transit, parade details, weather, detours and anything else that can happen," said Dan Bradley of the Office of Emergency Management.

Full SEPTA Plans For Eagles' Super Bowl Parade

On the public transit side, SEPTA officials said the Market Frankford and Broad Street Line will be free for commuters on Thursday.

The transit service advised all potential parade-goers to start planning now how they are going to get close to the parade route.

"Really understand that we can carry about 500-550,000 people to the parade and ceremony, so if we have about 2 million people at the parade, that means we can carry about one and four," said SEPTA General Manager Jeffrey Knueppel.

SEPTA had serious issues transporting people to the World Series parade in 2008, and are trying to avoid similar troubles this time around.

SEPTA is going to be consolidating stops on rail lines and the Market-Frankford and Broad Street Lines will be free.

For those fans thinking about using SEPTA's regional rail lines, service will operate inbound only in the morning and outbound only after the parade.

You will also need to purchase a $10 special "Independence Pass" for service on Thursday.

NJ Transit Announces Service Plan For Eagles' Super Bowl Parade

That will be limited to 50,000 people.

Up to 3 million people are expected to pack the city for the parade.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.