Thrown to the lines at coliseum.

• Position: Triad

As host to 21 Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball tournaments, the Greensboro Coliseum Complex has often resounded with the clash of titans. For fans, getting to the game can also be a colossal test of patience, especially when crowds pack the complex's Special Events Center or its other venues. It happened before the Duke-UNC Greensboro basketball game in December, which coincided with two other events. " My wife and I, after paying $40 per ticket and arriving 45 minutes prior to game time, were turned away from parking at the coliseum with signs saying 'lot full' at every parking entrance," a letter writer complained to the city's daily newspaper, the News & Record.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

" Bunch of cry babies," retorted a WGHP Fox8 viewer on Facebook. Said another; "Any person with a lick of common sense should leave early enough to anticipate that kind of traffic! Then again, we are talking about Duke fans-lol." Not everyone is laughing out loud. "We can't have a traffic situation like that happen again," Mayor Pro Tern Nancy Vaughan says.

Coliseum traffic, though painful, comes from an enviable situation: sold-out events amid ambitious expansion. Trying to live up to the "Tournament Town" moniker Greensboro has adopted, the City Council has faithfully supported its 52-year-old, 23,500-seat arena and added to it, recently spending $2.3 million on an interactive ACC Hall of...