No easy drive

There was a moment during last year's Masters Tournament when Steve Cassell said he wished he was somewhere else.

Mr. Cassell, a traffic engineer for Richmond County who oversees the routes to and from the Augusta National Golf Club, was on a street near a busy turning lane when he adjusted a traffic light to stay green longer than usual.

He said he hoped his effort would clear traffic from the turn lane, allowing cars to get parked for the tournament, but his plan worked a little too well.

"I stood there with the light green for about three or four minutes, which is a lifetime in that kind of heavy traffic," he said. Slowly, Mr. Cassell said, he watched the drivers in other lanes grow impatient.

"They began honking their horns," he said.

His adjustment had somehow frozen the light and prevented it from returning to its normal setting, stalling long lines of motorists.

Masters Week is mostly about motorists to Mr. Cassell. There are about three times the normal number of drivers on Washington Road during the tournament, making it Augusta's busiest time of the year.

Mr. Cassell is in charge of making sure it doesn't crawl to a stop, and that is not always easy.

Now in his third Masters, Mr. Cassell has overseen a major traffic pattern change each year -- mostly thanks to the new parking lots the Augusta National opened near Berckmans Road. He said this year might be the most difficult for regular patrons.

"This year might be a punch in the mouth to someone who has been coming here for 30 years and not paying attention (to the traffic routes)," Mr. Cassell said. "Once you get past Stanley Drive you won't have a place to park."

He said the most difficult thing is getting all the officials -- the Georgia Department of Transportation, the Sheriff's Office, the Georgia State Patrol and the Augusta National -- on the same page with respect to the traffic plan. Then there is the spotlight cast on traffic officials during the week.

"It's the first and last thing that people remember when they come to this course," he said.

It's likely that the tournament in 2010 will be another year of changes for traffic officials. Mr. Cassell said.

"I would be surprised if something didn't change next year, and it would be based on any problem we see this year," he said.

Reach Adam Folk at (706) 823-3339 or adam.folk@augustachronicle.com.