We had just enough drama to make the Monday morning commute interesting, but nothing that caused massive backups or delays.
A freak rollover crash blocked the intersection of Diamond Lake Road and Stevens Avenue for about 45 minutes. That shook up a few folks and had the ramps to and from 35W clogged until Minneapolis Police could clear the scene.
On southbound 35E, a pair of wrecks at County Road H2 and County 96 tied up traffic during the 7 a.m. hour. At times the trip from the Forest Lake Split to downtown St. Paul reached 30 minutes. At this hour, all is well as traffic is back to highway speeds.
Road work in Lakeville between County 70 and County 50 lifted Sunday night and that had motorists cheering as the drive from the far south metro into downtown Minneapolis sailed right along without issue.
The toughest slog for sure was on southbound 494 from Maple Grove to Hwy. 7 in Minnetonka. Lots of traffic, a bit of rain and a stall led to an agonizing drive during the middle and latter stages of the rush hour. Those delays are still in place as we wrap up the morning commute.
East metro commuters on westbound 94 got hung up from the Hudson Bridge to 694. A three-car crash at Neal Avenue was all it took to gum up traffic during the middle portion of the drive. Things remained tight from McKnight Road to downtown St. Paul when a crash closed the Marion Street exit for about 30 minutes. Currently we have off and on slow downs between 694 and Mounds Blvd.
