A morning guard rail project on westbound 694 at Hwy. 252 reduced the freeway to a single lane, and in turn created gridlock for commuters trying to cross the Mississippi River in Brooklyn Center. Traffic stacked up back to near I-35E at the worst, a five-mile back. Travel times from 35E to Hwy. 252 reached 35 minutes at the worst. The crammed conditions persist and likely will into the afternoon when the project is supposed to wrap up.
Elsewhere a wreck on northbound I-35 at County 50 led to delays for Lakeville drivers as the backup had traffic crammed back to 205th Street.
In Bloomington, I-494 was a tough drive for westbound drivers as a car fire at Lyndale Avenue around 7 a.m. and a new crash at 12th Avenue led to delays. Further to the west, a traffic stop and crash at Minnetonka Blvd. created nose to nose conditions from Baker Road up to Minnetonka Blvd.
It was smooth sailing for northbound Hwy. 169 drivers even though the highway was back to two lanes over the Bloomington Ferry Bridge. The road had been three lanes since June when an extra lane was added to handle additional traffic when crossing at Hwy. 101 and 41 were closed due to flooding.
East metro commuters were held up in the early part of the rush with a crash at White Bear Avenue and the usual log jam from Hwy. 61 to 35E.
No problems were reported on the Northstar line or on light rail trains. Buses ran on time, too.
