The Drive: 7th Street headache will last until October

The Drive loves the Minnesota Lynx. After all, who can't get behind a three-time champion that is the only local professional sports team giving us something to shout about these days?

In full disclosure, the Drive unabashedly cheers for the Minnesota Twins, too, despite their woeful performance this year.

But the Drive is definitely not a fan of those weekday afternoon games at Target Center and Target Field, which are traffic stranglers when games end.

Case in point: A recent Wednesday Lynx game drew 16,132 fans, a majority of them kids who came by bus to see the hometown team cruise by the Atlanta Dream. While they gleefully celebrated the women's basketball team's 83-65 win, commuters got caught in a traffic headache worthy of some Extra Strength Excedrin.

School buses parked two lanes deep took out traffic lanes on 7th Street north of the arena all the way to Olson Hwy. Construction outside Target Center further constricted traffic. The result was gridlock as far back as 3rd Avenue S. Things were so bad that traffic control agents had a tough time getting vehicles through the area and Metro Transit buses were diverted south on Hennepin Avenue to 11th Street, then north on 11th to bypass the madness.

Granted, Lynx crowds are not always that big, and thankfully the team doesn't have any more matinees. The Twins have a handful of noon starts left. But what will ensue when 65,000 people leave the new U.S. Bank Stadium after a Vikings game or concert? Can 7th Street handle all that traffic?

Yes, says Allen Klugman, a city traffic engineer.

"By the time you get to Nicollet, Hennepin and 1st Avenue, that's unrelated to the new ramp." he said. But "during special events, we need to disperse traffic [by Target Center] a bit more."

To avoid the traffic glut that forms during rush hour and right after games, motorists leaving downtown's west end can use 3rd, 5th or 11th streets or Washington Avenue. Or grin and bear it until the work is complete in October and 7th Street returns to three lanes.

Crews have been moving utility lines before reconfiguring 7th Street where it jogs around Target Center. The area features a triangle-shaped median bounded by 7th Street, 9th Street and Glenwood Avenue. The median will be removed and that space incorporated into an enlarged Target Center. The one-block segment of Glenwood Avenue in front of O'Donovan's Irish Pub will disappear and 7th Street will be moved a few feet to the west. A segment of 9th Street, which is now a one-way, will be converted to a two-way between the intersection of 8th Street and Ramp A entrance.

On Monday, Target Center's growing footprint will swallow part of 1st Avenue N. in front of the arena. Klugman says the street will still have one traffic lane and one bike lane in each direction, but no parking.