Roads are closed for the FIFA Fan Festival. Here’s what to know.
East Faimount Park is shut off to vehicle traffic as crews build the FIFA Fan Festival and operate the event through July 19.
Roads directly near the FIFA Fan Festival in Lemon Hill are now officially closed for the remainder of the 2026 World Cup.
The city closed roads Tuesday as crews assembled the fan festival stages and infrastructure that will soon welcome up to an estimated 15,000 fans daily from June 11 to July 19.
The affected roads are mostly inside East Fairmount Park, including Sedgley, Poplar, and Lemon Hill Drives, which lead right up to the festival. Main roads surrounding the festival, like Kelly Drive and Girard Avenue, remain open to vehicle traffic. Roads will reopen by 8 p.m. on July 26.
The following streets will be closed for the duration of the festival:
Sedgley Drive from Kelly to Poplar Drives
Poplar Street from Poplar Drive to 30th Street (local access maintained)
Poplar Street from 29th to 30th Streets (westbound only; local access maintained)
Poplar Drive from Sedgley Drive to Girard Avenue
Sedgley Drive from Girard Avenue to Lemon Hill Drive
Lemon Hill Drive and North Lemon Hill Drive (loop road)
From June 11 to July 19, Waterworks Drive will be closed at 10 a.m. daily, with controlled access to the Waterworks and Philadelphia Museum of Art. Waterworks Drive will be available for general parking each morning until 9 a.m.
Police blocked off entrances to the park and began towing vehicles still parked there Tuesday morning.
The Benjamin Franklin Parkway will also have its outer lanes closed through Labor Day to condense traffic, discouraging vehicles from driving near the festival, officials said. For the July 4 concert on the Parkway, road closures will switch to the inner lanes 10 days before and after the concert to allow for preparation and breakdown.
While the roads are closed during the festival, pedestrians and festival staff will be able to move through the park safely without cars, festival officials said. The festival will not have on-site parking, with the surrounding neighborhoods implementing permit-parking only to dissuade fans from dumping their cars in the park and communities for hours.
Philadelphia Parking Authority will increase enforcement patrols with up to eight tow trucks on standby at any given time. Residents in the neighborhood can apply for a free special event parking permit that will allow them to continue parking in their neighborhood during the festival.
Rideshare apps will also be disabled within the festival and in the immediate surrounding areas to force riders to get dropped off and picked up outside of the more congested areas. Local residents who require rideshare services due to mobility issues will be able to request a wheelchair accessible ride through the app, regardless of the rideshare “geofence.”
