Light-rail transit riders in downtown Minneapolis will face an interruption in the 48 hours before Super Bowl LII next February.
Beginning late Feb. 2, a Friday, trains won't stop at the U.S. Bank Stadium plaza because of tightening security for the Super Bowl on Sunday.
Green and Blue line trains will still pick up and dropoff passengers at the stops right before and after the stadium.
But after rush hour Friday, the secure zone around the stadium expands. The locked-down perimeter, that will be in place through the game, includes the stadium rail stop that is steps from the building's main doors on the western façade.
Light-rail trains will still run on their regular schedules and routes. They will stop in the Cedar-Riverside area to the east and Government Plaza to the west.
Bigger changes come for train riders on game day, Feb. 4. The only riders allowed on the Blue Line between the Mall of America and Target Field will be Super Bowl ticketholders who pay $30 for the train trip to and from the game.
Similarly, Green Line ridership will be limited to ticketholders from the Stadium Village stop on the University of Minnesota campus. On game day, buses will supplant light-rail for all the bypassed stops.
Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee planners released their "Know Before You Go" traffic and transit plan last week. The committee, using privately raised money, also plans to build new bus shelters for the diverted transit riders.
When the event transit plan was released, some publicly criticized the inconvenience to regular riders. Super Bowl planners say security requires the bypass of the U.S. Bank Stadium stop for those two days.
The Super Bowl is a Level I national security event because it's such a high target for terrorism. Local police as well as federal agencies have been planning security for more than two years. Protection for the Super Bowl will be as extensive as anything seen for an event in the Twin Cities.