By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Fans heading downtown for the Bengals season opener Sunday should be aware that they may encounter detours on the way home.

Several downtown streets will be closed for the 2003 Comair Mini Grand Prix, and there will be no Fifth Street access to southbound Interstate 471, northbound I-71 or Columbia Parkway.

Steve Bailey, city traffic engineer, doesn't anticipate problems since the Mini Grand Prix has coincided with Bengals home games in the past. "The closure tends to be far enough east from Paul Brown Stadium," Bailey said.

Fifth Street will be closed between Main and Pike streets; Sycamore and Broadway will be closed between Fourth and Sixth streets; and Sixth Street will be closed between Broadway and Sycamore streets until 10 p.m.

"Mainly we're talking about people who park in the southeast quadrant of downtown and south of Second Street," Bailey said.

Bengals traffic that normally exits from Broadway to Third streets will be directed right on Main Street. From Main it will take a right onto Central Parkway/Reading Road to access the southbound I-471 ramp at Liberty Street or the northbound I-71 ramp at Reading and Elsinore Place.

Motorists can also go east on Pete Rose Way, then north on Eggleston Avenue to Central Parkway/Reading Road.

Columbia Parkway can be accessed by heading east on Pete Rose Way, which connects to the Columbia Parkway on ramp.

"It doesn't create intolerable traffic delays,'' Bailey said "(It's) just something we want football game patrons to be aware of."

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com

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