A pair of crashes on westbound I-94 at LaSalle Avenue and Groveland Avenue created a major traffic jam in downtown Minneapolis, which tied up traffic for about an hour during the middle portion of Monday's rush hour.
Two left lane were blocked for about 30 minutes and traffic stacked up as far back as Prior Avenue. Northbound 35W also was impacted as the ramp to westbound 94 was jammed. Traffic came to a slow roll from 46th Street into downtown Minneapolis.
The incident cleared just before 8 a.m. and at present traffic is back to normal levels for this time of the morning on both routes.
A medical emergency has traffic on southbound 35W slowing in the vicinity of County Road 96 while a crash on westbound Hwy. 212 has the right lane blocked at Shady Oak Road.
Earlier this morning wrecks tied up traffic on the Crosstown westbound at Xerxes Avenue between 7:30 and 8 a.m. while a crash locked up traffic on southbound 35W at County Road H about the same time.
East metro drivers escaped the mayhem as both I-94 in Woodbury and I-494 across the Wakota Bridge moved smoothly.
No issues were reported on Metro Transit buses or light-rail lines.
