MONROE — Traffic is slow around 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6 at the entrances and exits to the new Cincinnati Premium Outlets and it is taking about 30 minutes to get from the exit to the interstate, drivers are reporting.

Traffic started to get snarled around 11 a.m. in the area of the Cincinnati Premium Outlets off Ohio 63 at Interstate 75, especially for those heading in from the west or heading out of the mall driveways to Ohio 63 west, witnesses said.

Throughout the morning and afternoon, the Ohio 63 overpass had been backed up heading east out of Monroe all the way to Cincinnati-Dayton Road.

Outlet mall security officials said overflow parking lots have been open since around 11 a.m. and shuttles are moving shoppers to the mall.

Dispatchers at the Butler County Sheriff’s Office and Monroe police both said earlier this morning, Aug. 6, “it’s going to be one of those days.”

The hordes of bargain seekers at the opening of the outlet mall in Monroe were expected to create traffic issues and headaches.

It didn’t take long. Shortly before 8 a.m. a crash on northbound Interstate 75 near Ohio 63 involving a semi and a car was reported. Only minor injuries reported, according to the Ohio Highway Patrol.

At 10 a.m., I-75 northbound traffic was moving again, but slow and steady at the off ramp. Southbound traffic was moving steady.