A stretch of Illinois Highway 83 was jammed for hours Tuesday morning when an unexpectedly large number of motorists turned out for a personal success seminar at the Odeum Sports and Expo Center in Villa Park.
Cars trying to reach the complex on Villa Avenue just north of North Avenue became snarled around 7:45 a.m. and were dispersed by around 10 a.m., Villa Park police said.
Northbound traffic on Illinois 83 was backed up to St. Charles Road, and southbound cars were lined up to Interstate Highway 290.
Former President Bill Clinton, who was originally scheduled to speak, had canceled prior to the event. But other well-known figures such as former South African President F.W. de Klerk and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar helped draw more than 5,000 spectators Tuesday.
Spokesmen for the Odeum and Tampa-based Success Events International blamed each other for underestimating the number of parking spaces needed for the one-day seminar.
Organizers with SEI decided to change the location from the United Center amid safety concerns after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said Peter Lowe, the company’s chief executive officer.
“We were thinking about canceling the event altogether, but we really wanted to go the extra mile to make this happen. Naturally, you run into a lot of challenges when you’re talking about last-minute changes like this. I feel really bad about the traffic problems,” said Lowe, who is offering free tickets to a future seminar to anyone who bought tickets to Tuesday’s event.
Lowe said that when his staff told Odeum managers to expect as many as 3,000 cars at the seminar, he was assured that the motorists could be accommodated using off-site parking and shuttles.
But Odeum facility manager Mike Arndt said SEI officials assured him that the expected number of cars “would fit comfortably” into their 2,000-space parking lot, and that the off-site lots were merely a precautionary measure.
Arndt said he did not know how many motorists were turned away from the parking lots provided by the Odeum.
College pals Brett Hoekema and Jason Martin, who attended the seminar, found parking at the Odeum, but only after a two-hour drive from Palos Heights.
“It was not my ideal morning,” said Hoekema, 21.
