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FOXBORO - Police and Gillette Stadium officials hope this Sunday to avoid the gridlock that has strangled Route 1 on game days - and they say they're serious this time.

The problem has been fans arriving early on autopilot, expecting to park when and where they have for years, despite a seismic shift in parking accommodations this season because of construction at the mammoth Patriot Place retail and entertainment development next door to the stadium.

Many parking spaces near the stadium on the east side of Route 1 are no longer available. Fans accustomed to parking there should now park on the west side of the highway.

CLICK HERE for a PDF graphic of the Gillette Stadium parking lots (file size 1.29 MB)

From a practical standpoint, according to observers long familiar with stadium traffic flow, fans approaching Gillette from the south now should be in the appropriate lane up to two miles away, before turning into east or west lots. That means getting into position about where the Lafayette House sets. To wait much longer means risking getting mired in thicker and thicker traffic, until it is too late to make a move.

Officials hope to change fans' behavior, and their approach might be likened to experiments with Pavlov's dog.

Fans should expect a shock if they try parking next to Gillette early before Sunday's 1 p.m. game against the Buffalo Bills.

All parking lots will open at 9 a.m., four hours before kickoff.

However, if state police deem it necessary, only the lots opposite the stadium will open early.

That plan is despite last Sunday night, when pre-game traffic backed up for miles, clogging streets in downtown Foxboro and interstate highways.

Police blamed the traffic nightmare on many early-arriving fans who were determined to park in their favorite lots on the same side of Route 1 as the stadium.

Those lots opened 90 minutes after the stadium and private-parking spaces across Route 1.

Parking that used to be next to the stadium was moved across the street to Lot P10, which holds about 5,500 vehicles.

A similar traffic snafu occurred earlier with the packed exhibition soccer game between national teams from Brazil and Mexico. On Thursday, local and state police and stadium officials discussed last weekend's gridlock.

They decided to keep the same plan in place since the beginning of the season, with stadium officials refining how they run their parking lots, Foxboro Police Chief Edward O'Leary said Friday.

"We are trying to change the behavior on the part of the motorists," O'Leary said. "We expect there may be congestion again as people learn about the changes."

State police Lt. Jeff Stuart, commander of the Foxboro barracks, said fans should watch for troopers and flaggers directing them into open parking lots.

"They will not be allowed to stop in the breakdown lane and wait for P8 (opposite the south flyover)," Stuart said. "At 8:59 a.m., if you wait in P8, you're going to have to be moved."

Stuart said the early afternoon kickoff should help the traffic.

Last Sunday night, fans arrived 90 minutes before the parking lots opened, he said.

This Sunday, the early birds likely will arrive 30 minutes early.

O'Leary said opening the stadium-side lots early to ease the traffic is not viable.

"It only encourages people to show up earlier, and that isn't our purpose," he said. "We know that it's a long-term process to change (fans') behavior."

MICHAEL GELBWASSER can be reached at 508-236-0439 or at mgelbwasser@thesunchronicle.com.