Over the past two years, SRF has been working closely with key staff from Minnesota United, the City of Saint Paul, Ramsey County, MnDOT, Metro Transit, Met Council, and area police departments to develop a management plan for safe and sustainable transportation of fans, residents, and business owners on game days at Allianz field. With high numbers of pedestrians, bicycles, and transit mode-shares in this urban setting, the plan is unlike any other. Much of the vision for this plan was guided by community input to ensure a positive and safe game-day experience for everyone involved.
These planning efforts embraced several goals, including:
All of the planning came to reality as Allianz Field opened on Saturday, April 13th, with a crowd of nearly 20,000 soccer fans. Approximately one third of the fans used one of Metro Transit’s services, providing a high transit utilization for the Twin Cities newest stadium. Saint Paul and Metro Transit police kept crowds safe and orderly, ushering fans across Snelling Avenue and University Avenue, allowing Metro Transit staff the opportunity to clear all transit users within 45 minutes of the end of the match. Based on observations and feedback from Metro Transit, the City of Saint Paul, and Minnesota United, getting to and from the match was a success for game one!
So far, the transportation system has continued its success after each match at the new stadium. The agencies and SRF will be modifying the transportation management game plan slightly to accommodate the arrival of the soccer fans during upcoming weekday evening peak hours. Go Loons!