Mizzou preparing for heavy traffic involving rare Thursday football game

The University of Missouri is making accommodations for the increased traffic expected for Thursday evening’s football season opener at Faurot Field in Columbia.

The Tigers will battle Louisiana Tech at 7 pm. Mizzou’s campus operations, including in-person classes, will continue as normal on Thursday. However, MU is asking all employees who work on-campus in non-public-facing roles and who can work remotely for the rest of the day to leave campus at noon on Thursday.

The university says faculty and staff whose work requires them to be on-campus should work their regular hours on Thursday in-person.

Traffic is expected to be very heavy across Columbia on Thursday afternoon and early evening, as tailgaters and fans arrive.

Mizzou fans are being urged to park in downtown Columbia garages, which will be free Thursday after 5 pm. Greenway shuttles will be available for transportation to Faurot.

Mizzou also says the Truman VA hospital garage will not be available for public parking on Thursday.