FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. - Lots of folks who attend Day 1 of the Minnesota State Fair cite lesser crowds as one reason they choose opening Thursday.
But getting to the grounds themselves is proving a huge challenge in 2018.
MnDOT cameras show traffic at a near standstill on basically all routes into the grounds at Falcon Heights, and Metro Transit is apologizing to riders for long lines and slower service.
The sting from sitting in traffic doesn’t get any softer, knowing traffic is bad every year. However, many say they’ve never seen it this bad—cars crept along Snelling Avenue at best.
“Today it took just about 40 minutes to go a couple miles or less,” Otto Bloedow said. Bloedow says he drove from Prescott, WI for the first day of the fair. He says that drive normally takes 40 minutes total. Instead today, he spent the same amount of time hovering near the fairgrounds.
“The drive here wasn’t too bad until we got to Snelling so right when we got to 36 and Snelling—so total about an hour and a half,” Angel Kringler-Marshall said. Kringler-Marshall and her family drove from Coon Rapids.
Meghan Pederson, KARE's Community Relations Manager and the person responsible for the station's fair presence, says she sat tangled in traffic for more than two hours trying to get onto the fairgrounds and into the KARE Barn.
Historically Day 1 sees many vendors bringing equipment and supplies into the fairgrounds, some dragging trailers that have to be checked by security, but anecdotal reports suggest what is unfolding Thursday is far worse than usual. The State Fair apologized on Twitter, but did not offer any insight into what may be responsible for the huge traffic backups.
“Unfortunately it also is day one and we have a lot of new employees,” State Fair spokesperson Danielle Dullinger said. “So we’re still working out some of those kinks, we really ask for your patience and we get that you want to get to the far and we are working on getting you to the fair.”
Metro Transit rides were also delayed this morning due to the traffic. They say luckily, the driver shortage that they’re facing didn’t get in the way of their fair operations.
“With the help of our operators, with the help of all the people behind the scenes, we were able to fill all of our regular commitments too,” Metro Transit spokesperson Howie Padilla said.