[UPDATED: Corrected Stagecoach Festival dates; updated traffic status; added photo]
Estimates say attendance at the 2016 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio approached 100,000 for the first weekend of the two-weekend festival. Many of those people woke up from a late night of music last night to hit the road today, forming what has become a traditional Monday-after-Coachella traffic jam on the westbound I-10 through the Coachella Valley into the Inland Empire.
Traffic has been heavy and occasionally slow stop-and-go on the 10 westbound between Indio and Yucaipa since early this morning, continuing into this afternoon. Furthermore, the flow has slowed to stop-and-go from the Whitewater Pass to the Morongo Casino -- about 8 miles -- for most of the day into this evening.
It's also likely that traffic through the Inland Empire on the westbound 10 and other westbound freeways will be noticeably heavier than usual continuing into this evening, as many Coachella attendees head home toward Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego. Inland commuters are also advised to expect freeway traffic to be heavier than usual through the IE over the next two weekends, as crowds head into the Coachella Valley for Coachella Weekend 2 next weekend, and then the Stagecoach Country Music Festival the weekend of April 29-May 1.
