MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- If it's Opening Day, Richard Greiten is outside his old auto shop waving fans into its parking lot.

Now retired, Greiten said he comes back to help at the business that still bears his name, Greiten's Auto Service.

Located at the intersection of N. Hawley Road and W. Bluemound Rd., Greiten said the shop's lot has drawn Brewers gameday traffic for about 25 years.

Thursday, March 26, he expected to see bottlenecks on Bluemound all morning long as fans navigated around the extensive I-94 widening construction project.

Instead, Greiten expressed surprised as he watched few cars drive along Bluemound about one hour before first pitch.

"I was driving around earlier just to see what it was all about," Greiten said. "And I'm thinking everybody got here earlier."

In the general parking lots outside American Family Field, fans confirmed they made a point to leave early and chart alternate courses that avoided work zones along I-94.

Zach Drescher said he and two friends made their way from Plymouth and they exited I-94 earlier to get onto Canal Street.

"It was real easy coming in," Drescher said. "There was barely any traffic, so we got off on [the 25th St. and Clybourn St. exit], I believe it was, and rolled right in."

Matthew Galston and a group of friends and relatives from the Beaver Dam and Plymouth areas decided to park south of the stadium on Brewers Boulevard, then consolidate into a carpool of three vehicles that headed for the tailgate lots.

Galston said it was his first Opening Day, and he was worried about running into construction traffic. However, that didn't happen.

"I was a little bit, on how backed up it might be," Galston said. "It was not bad, actually, pretty smooth sailing. I did come early."

Plenty of other fans opted to take one of the many bar shuttles running to the ballpark, either out of routine or because they were nervous about stadium traffic.

Jessica Shields said she has driven fans to and from Brewers games for 13 years.

Known as "Shuttle Jess" at Magoo's on the Mound, where she currently drives one of the shuttles, Shields said she prepared for longer travel times. Instead, she was able to run on a familiar schedule.

"I was really anticipating that [traffic] was gonna be a lot heavier," Shields said. "I was expecting that the trip in was gonna take at least 15-20 minutes longer, and it didn't."

Despite the lack of any pregame snarls, Greiten said he ended up having a good day.

About 20 cars made their way into the auto shop's lot, which doubled the 10 or so cars he estimated parked their last year on Opening Day.

"Streets are all full, so they gotta find a place to park," Greiten pointed out. "And we got spots here. Simple as that."

As the season goes on, traffic trends could shift as the I-94 project advances. Opening Day also fell on a weekday afternoon while many students are on spring break.

Perhaps there will be ugly backups for some weeknight games, as cars arrive amid the evening rush hour. If that happens, Shields said she's ready to go with the flow, no matter fast or slow.

"It'll be okay. Whatever it is, we're gonna deal with it," she said. "And yeah, we'll get out customers there and back safely, and we're gonna have a great time."