GULF SHORES, Ala — The annual Shrimp Festival’s permit will be presented for approval next week at the City Council’s regular council meeting. Mayor Robert Craft hopes that increased parking accommodations will assuage clogged roads for better emergency access.

The Shrimp Festival, hosted by the Alabama Gulf Coast Area Chamber of Commerce, is entering its 40th year. The Chamber is requesting the use of a two-acre parking lot next to Alvin’s Island to accommodate increased traffic for the occasion.

“That’s the area that they’d like to use, in addition to what they’ve used in the past, for additional parking,” Recreation Director Grant Brown said. “This will eliminate the need parking along highway 182 just outside the venue.”

Mayor Robert Craft asked if the additional parking space would alleviate the majority of congestion caused by the event in previous years.

“In previous years, watching our emergency vehicles try to operate through there is a real challenge,” Craft said. “If we can give them that parcel there by Alvin’s Island, we can enforce some ‘no parking’ zones in certain areas there that would allow us better access, back and forth, for our emergency vehicles. I think that needs to be part of it.”

The additional parking would alleviate cars overcrowding the streets from West 1st Street to Highway 59, according to Brown.

The Shrimp Festival will be held on Oct. 14-16.