How To Navigate Your Way To The State Fair
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. (WCCO) -- Just getting to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds should qualify Jane Martin for a blue ribbon.
Because if you think your commute's rough, try navigating Twin Cities detours with a horse trailer in tow.
"It only starts once I get to the cities ... Slow, I came in middle of the day," Martin said.
But any time of day all fairgoers are likely to find their major routes in and around town constricted by construction.
Interstates 94, 694, 35W and Minnesota Highway 169 are all in some form of rebuild, requiring restricted lanes and some detours.
"It can be pretty trying," says Woodville, Wisconsin, resident Joe McCurdy.
McCurdy will drive the torn up route Interstate 94 east of St. Paul from his Wisconsin home each of the 12 days of the fair to help his father run three cotton candy stands.
"Everyday, all day. Like I said beat the traffic and get out here early and start doing the sugar thing," McCurdy said.
The sweetest way into the fairgrounds won't cost you a dime. Hop aboard a bus at any of the fair's 33 free park and ride lots operating throughout the Twin Cities inner-ring.
"In 2016 51 percent of our fair guests came by some form of mass transit," Transportation Manager Steve Grans said.
That's over 1 million fairgoers riding the $5 express buses, charters or the fair's free park and ride buses.
A new and spacious transit hub on the west end of the fairgrounds will help ease the congestion.
"That is by far the easiest way to get here," Grans said.
He also points out that the fair has added more parking for bicycles and motorcycles this year, in addition to the drop-off and pick-up locations for Uber, Lyft and taxis.
About the only way you can't arrive at the State Fair is on horseback.
So says horse owner Jane Martin, "plan ahead and take the bus." She acknowledges that she would, if it wasn't for the horse trailer.
The State Fair only has 7,000 individual vehicle parking spaces set aside. Also, there are added bus routes to transport riders from the Green line light rail train at the Snelling Avenue station.
For more information on State Fair transportation, click here.
