SXSW 2013 officially underway

AUSTIN (KXAN) - It's not only the big talk in Austin -- but around the world. South by Southwest got its massive gears greased and going on Friday.

For the next several days, the capital city’s population will boom. SXSW is expected to attract at least 300,000 people. That's nearly the population of Corpus Christi.

• View photos from
  'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone' premiere

Because most of the extra crowds will center around Downtown Austin, that will lead to plenty of road closures. A few of those roads have already closed -- mainly around the Sixth Street area.

Other closures are expected to roll out throughout the next few days:

• Sixth Street and its cross streets will be closed from Interstate 35 to Brazos Street
• portions of Red River, Trinity and Second streets will also be closed
• all of the Rainey Street neighborhood will be closed from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. daily starting Friday and ending on March 17
• Interactive map of downtown street closures

Capital Metro is getting into the SXSW action. The transit agency wants people to avoid the traffic congestion by taking a ride on one of the many bus routes in and around the major hot spots.

Most of the foot traffic Friday will be at the Austin Convention Center as the interactive portion of the festival gets started. Awards will be handed out to the top movers-and-shakers in the digital world, honoring the latest work from mobile apps to websites.

One of the highlights from Saturday afternoon was a speech from former Vice President Al Gore. Thousands waited in a long line that wrapped around the Austin Convention Center to take part in the hour long presentation. 

Gore focused his discussion on topics related to his new book titled 'The Future". 

Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell also addressed the crowd and thanked them for their economic input to the city. 

"They had an economic impact of almost $200 million so I want to thank each one of you individually for that contribution to the city of Austin, Texas," said Leffingwell.