Why you should stay away from downtown Miami Friday night. And we mean it. Really.

Miami Herald Staff

What happens when you mix a Miami Heat home game with Art Week events and a show at the Arsht Center?

You’ll have plenty of time to think about it as you sit in gridlock.

In a confluence surely to bring drivers to their knees, not to mention their brakes, roadways leading to and from downtown Miami will be packed on Friday night, Dec. 8.

Oh, and mix in the hockey fans heading on the highway to the Florida Panthers home game in Sunrise in Broward, along with everyone else who’s out on the town for some Friday night fun.

Together, the traffic forecast is ... parking lot.

So if you don’t have to be anywhere near downtown Miami, Miami Beach and Miami neighborhoods Wynwood and the Design District on Friday night, stay away. Really. We mean it. Stay away. A frozen dinner and Netflix sound pretty good right now, right?

READ MORE: Caught in a circle of traffic hell that’s Miami Art Week? You have options to get around

But if you have to or want to be on the roads, here are the details on major events this Friday evening so you can time your travels:

Miami Heat

Event: Heat vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

Time: 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8

Location: Kaseya Center, 601 Biscayne Blvd., Miami.

Nearby: Bayside Marketplace, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, FPL Solar Amphitheater at Bayfront Park, downtown Miami business district, Brickell area.

Arsht Center

▪ Event: ”Pretty Woman: The Musical”

Time: 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8

▪ Event: “La Gringa,” presented by City Theatre and Arsht Center

Time: 7:30 p.m., Dec. 8

Location: Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd.

Nearby: Omni district, MacArthur and Venetian causeways, I-95 ramps.

Miami Art Week

No, this isn’t an Art Basel or Art Miami traffic jam or the parking lot at Miami Beach Convention Center for the main event. It just will feel like that. Instead, this was Steve Parker’s “Traffic Jam” exhibit during Art Week in 2010.
No, this isn’t an Art Basel or Art Miami traffic jam or the parking lot at Miami Beach Convention Center for the main event. It just will feel like that. Instead, this was Steve Parker’s “Traffic Jam” exhibit during Art Week in 2010.

▪ Event: PRIZM

Time: Friday until 6 p.m.

Location: 1501 Biscayne Blvd.

▪ Event: MUSE Art Fair

Time: Friday until 8 p.m.

Location: 660 Washington Ave., Miami Beach

▪ Event: Save Black Art

Time: Friday until 7 p.m.

Location: 250 NW Ninth St., Miami

▪ Event: Point Comfort Art Fair & Show

Time: Friday until 8 p.m.

Location: 249 NW Ninth St., Miami

▪ Big fairs:

Art Miami, Northeast 14th Street and the bay

Design Miami, Meridian Avenue and 19th Street in Miami Beach

Red Dot, 2217 NW Fifth Ave., Miami

Florida Panthers

Event: Panthers vs. Pittsburgh Pengins in NHL game

Time: 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8

Location: Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise

Nearby: Sawgrass Mills mall

How to survive the traffic jams

Traffic on Brickell in 1964.
Traffic on Brickell in 1964.

Free rides: Miami-Dade Transit has been running fare-free on Metrorail, Metrobus and Metromover since Nov. 13 as the agency tries to get people to try its revamped Better Bus Network. Also free: parking at all Metrorail garages. Extra Miami-Dade buses will be on standby in the downtown area should the crowds overflow the normal number of buses. You might want to consider Miami’s city trolleys, also.

Rideshare stops: The city of Miami and Miami police would love it if you go to Wynwood any way other than your own car — foot, mass transit or rideshare. If you use Uber or Lyft to get there, police request you use the following dropoff/pickup zones on Thursday and Friday from 5 p.m. until 2 a.m., and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 2 p.m.:

  • Northwest Second Avenue and 29th Street;

  • Northwest Third Avenue and 27th Street;

  • Northwest Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street;

  • and North Miami Avenue and 22nd Street.

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