3 days of traffic headaches due to sports

Major sporting events threaten to inconvenience lots of drivers over the next three days.

Tonight, the focus is on South Philadelphia, where the Flyers and Phillies spring into action, as many motorists head for the Shore via the Walt Whitman Bridge.

Saturday, Kelly Drive will have closures and detours, because of a dragon boat regatta.

But the biggest shutdown will be Sunday, when the annual international cycling championship monopolizes roads from Logan Circle to the Manayunk Wall.

At 7:05 p.m. tonight, the Phillies, led by perfect-game hurler Roy Halladay, will host the San Diego Padres at Citizens Bank Park. The game is sold out, except for the usual 500 standing-room tickets that go on sale at 4 p.m. before night games.

At 8 p.m. is soldout Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals, as the Flyers try to tie the series against the Chicago Blackhawks.

For those wishing to avoid jammed roads, SEPTA's Broad Street Line Sports Express trains will run every 10 minutes beginning at 6:08 p.m. from the Fern Rock station, reaching City Hall about 17 minutes later. For more info, go to www.septa.org.

On Saturday, Kelly Drive will be closed from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. between Strawberry Mansion Drive and Fountain Green Drive for the Independence Dragon Boat Regatta, according to police. Southbound traffic will be detoured via the Strawberry Mansion ramp to Reservoir Drive and Fountain Green Drive, before returning to Kelly Drive. Northbound motorists will use Fountain Green Drive, Reservoir Drive and Strawberry Mansion Drive to get back on Kelly.

Also Saturday, the Art Show and Restaurant Day at Rittenhouse Square will bring the closure of 18th Street between Locust and Walnuts Streets starting at 11 a.m.

On Sunday, all sorts of roads, including the entire Kelly Drive and most of the Ben Franklin Parkway, will be closed for the 156-mile TB Bank Philadelphia International Cyling Championship, as well as the Liberty Classic, with 100 female cyclists.

Here's the list of closures, according to police:

-- Kelly Drive, to all traffic and parking.

-- Ben Franklin Parkway, closed from 18th street to Eakins Oval. (Cross traffic permitted at 20th, 21st, and 22d Streets)

-- Ridge Avenue from School House Lane to Hermit Lane

-- Main Street from Ridge Avenue to Green Lane

-- Levering from Main to Tower

-- Cresson from Levering to Levering

-- Lyceum from Tower to Pechin

-- Pechin from Lyceum St. to Roxborough

-- Roxborough Pechin to Manayunk

-- Manayunk from Roxborough to Ridge Avenue

-- Sedgley Drive at Girard Avenue

-- Brewery Hill Drivet Girard Avenue

-- Poplar Drive at Poplar Street, with all traffic directed east on Poplar Street.

Vehicles won't have access to the Lemon Hill, Mount Pleasant and Ormiston mansions; the Dairy and Edgely ballfields; Fairmount Park from Hunting Park Avenue.

Access to the Art Museum will be through the Spring Garden Tunnel, and no parking will be permitted at Eakins Oval, along the Parkway on Waterworks Drive, or Lemon Hill, according to police.