The Wednesday rush began in dramatic fashion as a police needed to use stop sticks to stop a motorist who was trying to get away. The woman was driving on westbound I-494 when the sticks punctured two of her tires at Delaware Avenue.
At present, mainline routes are crash free and delays are minimal.
In the earlier incident, the driver, a 52-year-old woman from Stillwater, was wanted for "several traffic violations," the State Patrol said. The crash at 6:15 a.m. in the right lane led to a four-mile back up and lengthy delays for drivers that persisted until after 7:15 a.m.
Elsewhere a wreck on southbound 35E at Hwy. 36 around 7:30 a.m. and one about the same time at the junction of 694 and 35E in Little Canada tangled traffic in the northern suburbs.
Northbound 35W ran slow from Burnsville to downtown Minneapolis, but was crash free all morning. That's kind of feat in and of itself.
In other places around the metro, pockets of congestion caused only minor delays in the usual spots, but routes in the western suburbs were flowing well most of the morning.
No problems were reported on light-rail, commuter rail or buses, which kept on schedule.
