City using Made In America as preparation for papal visit

About 70,000 music-lovers are expected to stand shoulder to shoulder Saturday on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway as the Budweiser Made in America festival kicks off, with Beyoncé headlining and organizers forecasting better weather and cellphone coverage.

This is the city's fourth year hosting the Jay Z-curated, two-day serving of live music on multiple stages at the foot of the Art Museum steps.

Made in America takes place on the same site where Pope Francis will celebrate Mass on Sept. 27. The concerts will help the city test its readiness for its appointment with the pontiff.

A grid system of large-font emergency-assistance signs that went up at intersections up and down the Parkway for last year's Made in America has been extended toward City Hall.

Last year, a thunderstorm disrupted the Sunday night concert. Temperatures in the low 80s are forecast this time, with the mercury dipping to around 60 by evening's end.

In the festival's inaugural year, cell towers got overloaded by the concentration of mobile-phone users. With hundreds of thousands of people expected for the pope, telecom providers have been working to beef up capacity.

Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison said he was eager to see whether there will be enough juice for everyone's texts, emails, and Instagram and Twitter posts.

"Our partnership with AT&T, Verizon, and everyone has really enhanced the capacity in this area in advance of the papal use of the Parkway," he said. "We're going to actually test and see how much usage we'll get and monitor all that."

A number of streets near the Parkway will be shut down this weekend for Made in America, and SEPTA plans extra service.

Whether you're heading to the concerts, trying to avoid the crowds, or getting out of town, here's what you need to know about traveling around Philadelphia this weekend:

Street closures. The 22d Street off-ramp to the Parkway from westbound I-676 and the outer lanes of the Parkway were shut down Friday.

These streets will be closed at 10 a.m. Saturday:

The Parkway between 18th Street and Eakins Oval.

21st Street between Winter and Spring Garden Streets.

22d Street between Race Street and Fairmount Avenue.

23d Street between the Parkway and Fairmount.

24th Street between Fairmount and Pennsylvania Avenue.

25th Street between Fairmount and Pennsylvania.

Spring Garden between 20th and 31st Streets.

Kelly Drive between 23d and Fairmount.

Martin Luther King Drive between the Falls Bridge and the Parkway.

Pennsylvania between Hamilton Street and Fairmount.

Pennsylvania between the middle of the 2000 block and 21st.

Park Towne Place between 22d and 24th.

Mass transit. Trains on SEPTA's Broad Street and Market-Frankford Lines will run every five minutes on Saturday and Sunday, beginning at noon, with additional trains running from Center City when the concerts end. Overnight service will operate as normal.

Additional late-night Regional Rail trains will depart from Center City stations. Extra evening trolley trips will run on Routes 10, 11, 13, 15, and 34. Bus Routes 7, 32, 33, 38, 43, and 48 will be detoured from 10 a.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday.

215-854-2431@panaritis

Emily Babay writes for Philly.com.