City workers get green light to go home

AUSTIN (KXAN) - For some city workers, concerns about Formula One traffic on Friday put them in the fast lane to go home.

In an effort to cut down on the number of cars on the road during F1 festivities, the Austin city manager is letting certain employees go home early Friday.

City Manager Marc Ott emailed a memo to department directors Thursday that state all "non-essential" employees can go home at 2 p.m. Department heads will have the final say on who can stay or go.

Several other downtown businesses are allowing employees to work from home Friday.

Friday afternoon rush hour is expected to be double the headaches as commuters, race fans and music lovers converge in the downtown area for Austin Fan Fest .

There will be several street closures throughout the weekend.

Meanwhile, the Area Command at the Austin/Travis County Emergency Operations Center has been activated and will continue until Monday evening. Other command posts for Downtown, the track, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and the Capitol were also activated.