Ever been stuck in a single lane behind a barely-moving vehicle, with a double yellow line wedging you in place?

Starting Monday, 26,000 commuters who take express buses to work in downtown Minneapolis will no longer be consigned to such a fate, thanks to a major reorganization of bus traffic -- one aimed at giving metro areas around the country something to emulate.

Nearly 2 miles of bus-only passing lanes will open downtown as the latest element of a $183 million effort to cut Twin Cities congestion.

"Of all the big transit improvements we've had, this will have the most impact on people's daily lives," said Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, alluding to the recent startup of the Northstar commuter-rail line and the new MnPass carpool/toll/bus lanes on Interstate 35W.

The addition of a second transit lane on both Marquette and 2nd Avenues means express buses now have room to pass each other swiftly and safely, and passengers could see up to 10 minutes drop off their daily commutes. About 1,400 bus trips that had been scattered on various streets will get permanent homes on Marquette and 2nd. As many drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists are painfully aware, the two streets each received a 12-block-long, down-to-the-dirt rebuilding over the past year and a half.

The result includes a system for labeling each bus stop with a letter, sort of like a gate at the airport. And the ability to pass lets buses make stops for passengers only every other block, contributing to faster travel times.

Lori Chance of Mounds View is among those who are pleased that more buses will again be closer to downtown's office core. She'll only have to walk about one block instead of three to get to work.

Chance said that "bus drivers have been very communicative" about the plan. One day last week a transit employee wearing a bright safety vest got on her bus and made an announcement to alert riders who hadn't heard.

Such ambassadors will be dispatched along Marquette and 2nd Avenues during afternoon rush hours Monday and Tuesday, in part to help riders understand the new lettered bus-stop system, which is a bit complicated. Chance was among the riders who stopped by the Commuter Connection store in the skyway last week to pick up revised schedules and look over maps showing the alphabet soup of stops.

The $32 million project needs to be completed by the end of this month to meet a federal deadline, but riders already have noticed some unfinished business.

"My complaint is there's no shelters," said Barry Kitchen from Brooklyn Park, who figured out that he'll be using the "D" and "H" stops.

Metro Transit spokesman Bob Gibbons said Friday that the roofs for the shelters had been on back order but had arrived, with most to be installed before Monday. He also noted that signs providing real-time bus departure information won't be up and running on Monday, but officials expect to have those functioning by the end of the month.

A potential model

The bus lanes are part of the same project that brought MnPASS lanes to Interstate 35W between downtown Minneapolis and Burnsville and created 2,700 new park-and-ride spaces, mainly in the south metro.

The Twin Cities area was one of a handful of metros around the country to be selected for the Urban Partnership Agreement, a grant program to test new ways of moving commuters. The federal government's contribution is $133 million, with state and local governments paying $55 million.

The double bus-only lanes were actually a local idea, one that was included more than two years ago in a 10-year plan to improve bus access to Minneapolis. The federal money came along shortly after.

"It was really wonderful timing," said Arlene McCarthy, the Metropolitan Council's director of transportation services.

She compared the old single-lane setup to a poky conga line. But, she said, "beginning Monday, we will have a ballet of buses."

More buses will be joining the dance in March, when express routes will be moved from Nicollet Mall to Marquette and 2nd. With bus traffic reduced 30 percent, the mall will be reopened to bicycles around the clock, although numerous bicyclists have expressed disappointment that the bike-only lanes on Marquette and 2nd disappeared in the makeover.

In the spring, the city is planning to put stations from its upcoming bike-sharing program near some of the new lettered stops to give bus riders easy access.

The biggest remaining piece of the express bus puzzle won't be in place until later in 2010, when the MnPass lanes and shoulder lanes open through the Crosstown work zone. But riders such as Chance are happy that the downtown project is complete.

During the construction, Chance's bus stops "moved a couple of times," she said, and with roads and sidewalks torn up, there was a fair amount to keep track of.

Said Chance: "It'll be nice to go on autopilot."

Jim Foti • 612-673-4491